LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Gl  FT    OF 


Class 


nf 

tye  Tjfvesibent  nnb  J 


OF  THE 

f   UNIVERSITY  ) 

OF 


HISTORICAL    SKETCH 


OF    THE 


ST.  LOUIS  UNIVERSITY; 


THE    CELEBRATION    OF    ITS 


FIFTIETH    ANNIVERSARY 


OR 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE, 

ox 
JUNE  24,    1879. 

BY 

WALTER   H.    HILL,   S.  J. 


ST.    LOUIS: 

PATRICK   FOX,    PUBLISHER, 

14  SOUTH  FIFTH  STREET. 

I879. 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  pages  do  not  give  a  minute  history  of 
the  St.  Louis  University;  they  contain  only  an  outline 
of  its  history.  The  origin  of  the  Jesuit  Society  in  Mis- 
souri is  related  briefly,  in  the  opening  chapters,  as  being 
closely  connected  with  this  first  college  established  by 
the  society  in  the  Western  States.  The  gradual  spread 
of  its  missions  to  the  adjacent  States  and  Territories  is 
also  noticed,  sufficiently  in  detail  to  present  a  general 
view  of  the  Missouri  province,  and  of  its  progress  dur- 
ing the  fifty-six  years  of  its  existence. 

Merely  to  recount  the  events  annually  taking  place 
in  an  establishment  of  the  kind,  from  its  beginning, 
would  be  to  compose  a  barren  and  tedious  chronicle  of 
facts  that  are  uniformly  the  same  every  year  in  every 
such  institution.  The  scope  of  the  undertaking  was 
extended,  therefore,  so  as  to  include  some  other  mat- 
ters, both  of  a  local  and  general  character,  which  it  was 
believed  would  be  acceptable  to  the  reader,  though 
they  be  but  remotely  cognate  to  the  principal  subject 
of  the  book.  The  writer  was  for  many  years  collecting 
and  noting  down,  from  conversations  with  the  early 

missionaries    a  number  of  particulars   connected  with 

(iii) 

1 «2245 


IV  PREFACE. 

the  beginning  and  progress  of  the  Church,  especially  of 
the  Jesuit  institutions  and  missions,  in  the  Western 
country  ;  and  he  has  aimed  herein  to  give  a  more  per- 
manent shape  to  some  portions  of  the  materials  for 
history  thus  acquired  :  "  Gather  up  the  fragments,  lest 
they  perish,"  was  our  Lord's  behest.  Let  this  also  be 
the  writer's  excuse  for  introducing,  here  and  there, 
what  may  seem  to  have  only  secondary  and  distant 
relationship  to  his  proper  subject. 

The  college  began  fifty  years  ago,  on  its  present 
site,  which  was  in  the  open  prairie,  at  some  distance 
from  the  town  of  St.  Louis,  as  the  town  was  in  the  year 
1829.  Such  leading  facts  of  its  history  as  could  be 
learned  from  its  somewhat  imperfect  records  are  stated 
ingenuously,  and  as  they  actually  happened,  even  when 
they  were  not  the  most  favorable  ;  for  God  has  a  hand, 
either  directly  or  permissively,  in  real  facts,  but  has  no 
share  in  things  falsely  affirmed  to  have  happened.  The 
means  employed  at  different  periods  by  the  faculties 
of  the  university  for  the  advancement  of  learning,  with 
more  or  less  good  fortune,  may  be  suggestive  of  some 
useful  thought  to  minds  engaged  with  questions  per- 
taining to  the  matter  and  the  methods  of  collegiate 
education.  Though  not  free,  doubtless,  from  numer- 
ous imperfections,  yet  the  work  records  some  things 
which  are,  perha  s,  sufficiently  various  and  significant 
in  their  nature  to  interest  the  reader  that  finds  pleasure 
and  subject-matter  for  reflection  in  the  deeds  of  good 
men  who  have  gone  before  us. 


PREFACE.  V 

This  little  history  of  the  St.  Louis  University  is  more 
especially  intended,  however,  as  a  respectful  and  affec- 
tionate offering  to  all  the  present  and  former  students 
of  the  institution,  and  to  the  mutual  friends  of  the 
alma  mater  and  her  cherished  alumni. 

There  is  subjoined  to  this  sketch  of  the  university 
some  account  of  its  "golden  jubilee  "  celebration,  on 
June  24,  1879,  with  its  attending  events  and  circum- 
stances ;  and  also  of  the  fiftieth  annual  commencement, 
which  occurred  on  the  following  day,  or  June  25th. 

WALTER  H.  HILL,  S.  J. 

ST.  Louis  UNIVERSITY,  July  16,  1869. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGE 

Right  Rev.  William  Louis  Dubourg  m  de  Bishop  of  Upper  and 
Lower  Louisiana — His  Efforts  to  promote  Education  by 
founding  Institutions  of  Learning  —  Lazarist  Priests  —  Ladies 
of  the  Sacred  Heart  —  Sisters  of  Loretto  —  Jesuits  of  Maryland 
offered  a  Mission  in  Missouri I 

CHAPTER    II. 

Father  Van  Quickenborne's  Works  among  the  People  around 
White  Marsh — Preparations  to  start  on  their  Journey  to  Mis- 
souri—  Journey  to  St.  Louis,  by  Way  of  Baltimore,  Cumber- 
land, Wheeling  —  On  Flatboats  to  Shawneetown,  thence  on 
foot  to  St.  Louis  —  Fragment  of  History  vindicating  Mar- 
quette's  Veracity 10 

CHAPTER    III. 

They  take  Possession  of  their  Farm  —  Schools  for  Indian  Chil- 
dren begun  —  Portage  des  Sioux  and  St.  Charles — They  are 
invited  by  Bishop  Rosati  to  open  a  College,  which  they  con- 
sent to  undertake 27 

CHAPTER    IV. 

From  the  Year  1829  to  the  Year  1836  —  Organization  of  the  Col- 
lege in  St.  Louis,  and  its  rapid  Growth  —  Need  of  Teachers  — 
Help  sent  from  Maryland  in  1831  —  Application  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  Missouri  for  Charter  of  Incorporation,  and  Text 
of  the  Charter,  granted  by  Special  Act 40 

CHAPTER   V. 

From  1836  to  1843  —  ^ev-  P-  J-  Verhsegen  made  Superior  of  the 
Missouri  Mission,  Rev.  J.  A.  Elet  made  President  of  the 

(vii) 


yill  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

University  —  Site  chosen  for  moving  the  College  out  of  the 
City — Rev.  George  Carrell  —  Kickapoo  Mission  —  Death  of 
Father  Van  Quickenborne  —  Committee  appointed  to  draw  up 
Course  of  Studies  —  Donations  sent  by  Father  De  Smet  from 
Belgium  —  Father  De  Smet  returns  to  America  and  begins  his 
Indian  Missionary  Excursions  —  College  at  Grand  Coteau, 
Louisiana  —  Pottawatomie  Mission — Medical  Faculty  of  the 
University  organized  —  St.  Xavier  Church  built  and  dedi- 
cated—  Parish  Schools 53 

CHAPTER   VI. 

From  1843  to  1854 — Rev.  James  Van  de  Velde,  Vice-Provincial, 
and  Rev.  George  Carrell,  President  of  the  St.  Louis  Univer- 
sity—  Means  employed  to  restore  Prosperity  —  St.  Mary's 
College,  Kentucky,  closed  —  Growth  of  the  City  —  Indian 
Grammar  and  Dictionary  by  Father  Diels  and  Father  Gail- 
land —  Rev.  J.  B.  Druyts,  President  of  the  University,  Rev.  J. 
A.  Elet,  Vice-Provincial  —  Arrival  of  Jesuit  Refugees  from 
Italy  and  Switzerland  —  St.  Joseph's  College,  Bardstown, 
Kentucky,  accepted —  Medical  Faculty  obtain  a  separate  Char- 
ter—  Asiatic  Cholera  —  Rev.  William  S.  Murphy  made  Vice- 
Provincial 65 

CHAPTER   VII. 

From  185410  1861  —  Rev.  J.  S.  Verdin,  President  —  Large  Num- 
ber of  Boarders  —  Societies  among  the  Students  —  Rev.  J.  B. 
Druyts,  Vice-Provincial  —  Scholasticate  at  College  Hill  — 
Church  and  College  in  Chicago  —  Missionary  Work  of  Father 
Damen  and  of  Father  Weninger — Commercial  Course  made 
distinct  from  Classical — Scientific  Course — Study  of  Ancient 
Classics — Removal  of  Scholasticate  to  Boston,  Mass.  —  Civil 
War  of  1861-1865,  its  Effects  on  the  University 80 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

From  1861  to  1871 — Loss  of  Southern  Students  —  Death  of  Rev. 
J.  B.  Druyts,  and  return  of  Rev.  Wm.  S.  Murphy  to  Missouri  — 
Members  drafted  for  the  Army  receive  Furloughs — Rev.  F. 
Coosemans,  Vice-Provincial,  Rev.  Thos.  O'Neil,  President  — 
The  Vice- Province  raised  to  Rank  of  Province  —  New  Con- 
stitution for  Missouri  in  1865,  its  proscriptive  Character  —  End 


CONTENTS.  IX 

PAGE 

of  the  Civil  War,  and  Effects  of  Peace  —  Property  on  Grand 
Avenue  purchased  for  the  Site  of  the  College —  Provincial  Con- 
gregation—  Rev.  F.  H.  Stuntebeck,  President  of  the  Univer- 
sity—  Death  of  Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen —  "College  View"  pur- 
chased—  Woodstock  College,  Maryland  —  St  Mary's  College, 
Kansas — Different  Manners  of  designating  the  Classes  in  dif- 
erent  Colleges 94 

CHAPTER    IX. 

From  1871  to  1878 — Rev.  Thos.  O' Neil  made  Provincial  —  Father 
Coosemans  —  Rev.  Joseph  Zealand,  President — Largest  Num- 
ber of  Students  ever  registered  for  one  Session — Golden 
Jubilee  of  First  Founders  of  Missouri  Province  —  Dr.  Moses 
L.  Linton  —  Tabular  Statement  of  Statistics  —  Death  of  Father 
De  Smet — Fiftieth  Anniversary  —  St.  Stanislaus  Novitiate  — 
Effect  of  Financial  Crisis,  1873 — St.  Louis  Bridge  and  Tun- 
nel—  Remains  of  Bishop  Van  de  Velde  removed  to  Floris- 
sant—  Rev.  L.  Bushart,  President  —  Centennial  of  American 
Independence  —  St.  Mark's  Academy — Pius  IX.,  Golden 
Jubilee  —  Detroit  College — Rev.  J.  E.  Keller  made  Presi- 
dent—  Death  of  Father  Van  Assche  —  Scientific  Course  begun, 
its  Results 107 

CHAPTER    X. 

From  1878  to  1879  —  Meeting  of  College  Delegates  at  Atlanta, 
Georgia  —  Modern  Languages,  which  most  in  demand  at  Uni- 
versity—  Number  of  Students  varies  more  in  Commercial  than 
in  Classical  Course  —  Creighton  College,  Omaha  —  Bishop 
Conroy,  Papal  Ablegate  —  Rev.  E.  A.  Higgins  made  Provin- 
cial  131 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Year  1879 — What  the  University  has  accomplished  in  fifty  Years  — 
Grown  up  with  the  City  —  Its  Alumni —  Its  first  Professors  all 
dead  —  Growth  of  the  Missouri  Province  —  Its  Founders  were 
Belgians  —  Their  Successors  —  Complete  List  of  Graduates  from 
1834  to  1879 135 

CHAPTER    XII. 

The  Ratio  Studiorum,  or  System  of  Studies  —  Origin  of  Jesuit 
Colleges  —  Their  Object  and  Work  —  Catholic  Education  — 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The  Idea  of  St.  Ignatius  —  General  Plan  of  Studies  —  The 
Catholic  University  —  Opposition  to  the  System  —  Adaptation 
of  the  System  to  the  Times  —  Three  Courses  of  Studies:  the 
Classical  Course,  the  Commercial  Course,  the  Scientific 
Course  —  Optional  Branches:  Modern  Languages,  the  Fine 
Arts  —  Associations  for  Moral,  Mental,  and  Physical  Improve- 
ment—  The  Preparatory  Department  —  Concluding  Remarks.  148 


THE    GOLDEN    JUBILEE. 


I. 

Preparation  for  the  Jubilee  —  The  President's  Letter  to  Pope  Leo 
XIII.  —  The  Papal  Brief  on  the  Subject  of  the  Fiftieth  Anni- 
versary—  The  Rescript  from  the  Propaganda 169 

II. 

The  Day  of  the  Jubilee  —  The  Solemn  Pontifical  Mass  —  Bishop 

Spalding's  Sermon  —  The  Music  —  The  Papal  Benediction.      .      176 

III. 
The  Alumni  Dinner — Guests  Present 200 

IV. 

The  Literary  Exercises  —  Dr.  Bauduy's  Address — The  Poem  — 
Judge  Bakewell's  Address  —  Governor  Reynolds's  Address  — 
The  Reading  of  the  Papal  Brief — Letter  from  the  Young 
Men's  Sodality  —  Editorial  Article  from  the  Republican.  .  .  203 

V. 

The  Fiftieth  Annual  Commencement  —  The  Prologue  and  Ad- 
dresses by  the  Graduates  —  The  Conferring  of  Degrees  —  Dr. 
Gregory's. Address  to  the  Graduates 237 

VI. 

The  Board  of   Trustees — The  Faculty  for  the  Year   1878-79  — 

Courses  of  Instruction 248 


CHAPTER    I. 

RIGHT  REV.  WILLIAM  LOUIS  DUBOURG  MADE  BISHOP 
OF  UPPER  AND  LOWER  LOUISIANA  — HIS  EFFORTS 
TO  PROMOTE  EDUCATION  BY  FOUNDING  INSTITU- 
TIONS OF  LEARNING  — LAZARIST  PRIESTS  — LADIES 
OF  THE  SACRED  HEART  — SISTERS  OF  LORETTO  — 
JESUITS  OF  MARYLAND  OFFERED  A  MISSION  IN 
MISSOURI. 

RIGHT  REV.  WILLIAM  Louis  DUBOURG  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Upper  and  Lower  Louisiana,  in  Rome,  Sep- 
tember 24,  1815.  Missouri  was  at  that  time  included 
in  Upper  Louisiana.  The  new  bishop,  accompanied  by 
some  Lazarist  priests,  proceeded  to  St.  Thomas's  Semin- 
ary, Bardstown,  Kentucky,  where  the  priests  remained 
for  a  time,  in  order  to  acquire  some  proficiency  in  the 
English  language.  He  reached  St.  Genevieve,  Mis- 
souri, on  December  27,  1817,  in  company  with  Bishop 
Flaget,  who  had  previously  visited  and  revisited  both 
St.  Genevieve  and  St.  Louis,  in  order  to  determine  which 
one  of  them  was  the  more  desirable  situation  for  a  sem- 
inary ;  these  two  towns  were  then  about  equal  in  popu- 
lation, but  Bishop  Flaget  was  of  opinion  that  St.  Louis 
would  ultimately  become  an  important  city,  whereas  St. 
Genevieve  had  little  prospect  of  making  great  future 
progress.  Bishop  Dubourg  and  party  arrived  at  St. 
Louis  on  January  5,  1818,  where  he  determined  to 
reside  till  a  more  peaceful  condition  of  things  would 

(i) 


2  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

warrant  his  making  New  Orleans  his  home.  Although 
New  Orleans  was  the  Episcopal  See,  yet  there  were 
troubles  there,  both  with  the  priests  and  people,  of 
a  character  which  made  it  expedient  for  him  to  remain 
at  St.  Louis ;  accordingly,  Bishop  Dubourg  continued  to 
reside  at  St.  Louis  till  1823,  annually  visiting  New 
Orleans. 

The  Lazarist  fathers  went  on  a  farm  at  the  Barrens,1 
in  Perry  County,  Missouri,  where  they  built  for  them- 
selves a  rude  home  with  their  own  hands.  This  was 
the  humble  first  beginning  of  St.  Mary's  College  and 
Seminary  at  the  Barrens,  which  subsequently  became 
so  well  known  in  the  West  on  account  of  the  many 
priests  eminent  for  virtue  and  learning  who  there  ac- 
quired their  education.  Bishop  Dubourg  spared  no 
exertions  to  make  this  institution,  which  first  received 
students  in  1819,  a  successful  undertaking,  and  his  ef- 
forts actually  produced  the  good  results  intended  by 
him.  The  college  was  finally  transferred  to  Cape  Gir- 
ardeau  in  1838,  where  it  still  to-day  holds  its  rank  among 
the  leading  colleges  of  Missouri ;  the  institution  at  the 
Barrens  was  made  a  preparatory  seminary  for  the  dio- 
cese, after  the  removal  of  the  college  to  Cape  Girardeau. 

Bishop  Dubourg,  before  leaving  Europe  in  1 8 1 7,  on  his 
return  to  the  United  States,  had  applied  to  the  Superior- 
General  of  the  Sacred  Heart  Order,  Madame  Barat,  for 

1  This  part  of  Perry  County  had  been  originally  settled  by  Catholics 
from  Kentucky,  the  first  of  them  coming  to  this  portion  of  Missouri 
about  the  year  1797.  The  name  "  Barrens  "  was  applied  to  the  prairie 
land  of  south-western  Kentucky,  and  the  emigrants  from  Kentucky  and 
Maryland  gave  this  name  also  to  the  prairie  land  on  which  they  settled 
in  Perry  County,  Missouri.  The  term  "barrens,"  as  thus  employed, 
does  not  imply  absence  of  fertility  in  the  soil. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  3 

a  colony  of  those  religious  ladies  to  establish  a  house  of 
their  order  in  his  diocese.  His  request  was  acceded  to, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1818  five  ladies  of  the  Sacred 
Heart,  with  Madame  Duchesne  as  superior,  were  sent 
from  France  to  the  United  States,  by  way  of  New  Or- 
leans, reaching  St.  Louis,  the  place  of  their  final  des- 
tination, August  22,  1818.  They  proceeded  to  St. 
Charles  early  in  September,  where  they  opened  a  school 
near  the  Catholic  church  of  that  town;  but,  through  the 
poverty  or  indifference  of  the  people,  they  met  with 
little  encouragement.  It  became  manifest  to  the  ladies, 
after  one  year's  trial,  that  they  could  not  make  even  a 
scanty  subsistence  by  their  school  at  St.  Charles,  and 
accordingly  an  arrangement  was  entered  into  with  the 
bishop  and  the  Rev.  Joseph  Dunand  for  their  removal 
to  Florissant.  On  September  3,  1819,  they  removed  tem- 
porarily to  the  bishop's  farm  near  Florissant,  now  a 
part  of  the  St.  Stanislaus  Novitiate,  till  a  suitable  build- 
ing1 could  be  prepared  for  them  in  the  village.  They 
moved  to  their  home  in  Florissant  on  December  24, 
or  Christmas  Eve,  1819.  In  the  year  1827  the  ladies  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  began  an  academy  on  a  tract  of  land 
comprising  twenty-six  acres,  adjacent  to  the  town  of 
St.  Louis ;  this  land  was  a  conditional  donation  from 
Mr.  John  Mullanphy.  There  are  few  of  the  old  families 
in  St.  Louis,  some  of  whose  daughters  were  not  edu- 
cated wholly,  or  as  to  a  part  of  their  training,  by  these 
accomplished  ladies  at  "The  Convent  of  the  Sacred 

1  The  erection  of  this  building  was  the  last  work  of  zeal  done  by  this 
pious  Trappist,  and  he  left  for  France  in  May,  1820 ;  the  last  entry  made 
by  him  in  the  records  of  the  church  at  Florissant  was  dated  April  i, 
1820.  He  was  commonly  called  by  the  people,  who  had  a  high  esteem 
for  his  piety,  "  Le  Pere  Prieur." 


4  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

Heart."  Previous  to  this  date  the  ladies  had  begun 
academies  in  Louisiana,  one  at  Grand  Coteau,  and  one 
at  St.  Michael's,  in  the  parish  of  St.  James.  In  1828 
an  academy  was  again  begun  in  St.  Charles,  Missouri, 
at  the  urgent  request  of  Rev.  Charles  Van  Quicken- 
borne.  The  colonies  founding  these  new  establishments 
were  all  sent  out  from  the  mother  house  in  Florissant.1 
At  the  present  day  the  order  is  spread  extensively 
through  the  United  States  and  Canada,  where  it  now 
has  many  flourishing  and  even  magnificent  institutions, 
all  of  which  owe  their  prime  origin  to  the  piety,  the  zeal, 
and  the  indomitable  energy  of  Madame  Duchesne  and 
her  companions. 

Early  in  1823,  Rev.  Joseph  Rosati,2  then  superior  at 
St.  Mary's  of  the  Barrens,  applied,  by  direction  of  Bishop 
Dubourg,  to  Rev.  Charles  Nerinckx,  founder  and  supe- 
rior of  the  Loretto  society  of  nuns  in  Kentucky,  for  a 
community  of  his  sisterhood  to  establish  a  boarding- 
school  for  girls  near  the  Seminary  of  the  Barrens,  in 
Perry  County,  Missouri.  This  wish  of  Bishop  Dubourg 
was  readily  complied  with  by  the  saintly  father  Nerinckx, 
and  in  May,  1823,  five  Sisters  of  Loretto  reached  the 
Barrens  under  Mother  Benedicta  Fenwick. 

They  began  a  school  so  soon  as  suitable  arrange- 
ments could  be  completed;  and  during  the  year  1824 
they  also  erected  a  house  for  the  exclusive  use  of  In- 
dian girls,  but  it  was  burned  down  by  an  incendiary 


1  The  ladies  finally  left  Florissant  in  July,  1846.     Their  house  was  pur- 
chased from  them  by  the  Sisters  of  Loretto,  who  began  an  academy  there 
in  the  spring  of  1847,  under  Mother  Eleanora  Clarke,  as  first  superior. 

2  In  March,  1824,  he  was  made  coadjutor  of  Bishop  Dubourg;  and 
in  1827  he  was  appointed  Bishop  of  St.  Louis,  which  had  been  erected 
the  previous  year  into  an  Episcopal  See. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  5 

before  it  was  made  entirely  ready  for  occupancy.  These 
devoted  Sisters  of  Loretto  subsequently  established 
boarding-schools  at  St.  Genevieve,  Fredericktown,  and 
Cape  Girardeau ;  but  all  except  the  last  named  were 
finally  given  up  by  them.  They  now  have  flourishing 
schools  in  St.  Louis,  Florissant,  and  other  places  in  Mis- 
souri, as  well  as  in  many  of  the  Western  States  and 
Territories. 

In  1823  there  was  a  college,  in  which  the  ancient 
classics  were  taught,  attached  to  the  cathedral  in  St. 
Louis,  and  it  was  conducted  by  five  secular  priests.1 
It  had  been  established  by  Bishop  Dubourg,  in  1819, 
with  a  view  of  furnishing  young  men  of  St.  Louis  and 
vicinity  an  opportunity  of  acquiring  a  thorough  educa- 
tion. But,  owing  mainly  to  the  fact  that  the  priests  con- 
ducting its  classes  had  pastoral  duties  imposed  on  them 
at  the  same  time,  the  undertaking  did  not  prove  a  very 
successful  one,  though  this  institution  had  been  kept  up 
for  a  time  by  the  aid  of  able  lay  teachers.  This  college 
was  finally  discontinued  in  the  year  1826. 

So  soon  as  Bishop  Dubourg  had  come  to  St.  Louis, 


1  In  1819,  Bishop  Dubourg  rented  the  Alvarez  residence,  a  one-story 
stone  house  on  the  north  side  of  Market  Street,  between  Second  and 
Third  Streets,  for  a  school.  In  1820,  a  two-story  brick  house  was  built, 
for  a  college  ;  it  stood  south  of  the  old  log  church,  — or,  as  some  say,  on 
the  site  of  the  old  log  church.  Rev.  Mr.  Xiel,  a  French  priest,  was 
president;  there  were  a  few  boarders.  Messrs.  De  Necker,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  New  Orleans,  Saulnier,  and  Dahmen,  studied  theology  there. 
Mr.  Dahmen  was  the  first  that  was  ordained  in  St.  Louis  by  Bishop 
Dubourg  ;  he  had  been  a  soldier  in  Bonaparte's  army  ;  he  was  for  some 
years  stationed  at  St.  Genevieve,  Missouri ;  and  it  was  at  his  house  that 
Rev.  Charles  Xerinckx  died,  on  August  12,  1824.  These  particulars  were 
collected  by  a  venerable  friend,  whose  memory  reaches  back  to  the  dates 
mentioned  above.  Elihu  H.  Shepard  was  professor  of  languages  in  the 
St.  Louis  College. 


6  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

and  been  made  acquainted  with  the  general  condition 
of  things  in  Missouri,  then  better  known  as  Upper 
Louisiana,  he  requested  Father  Anthony  Kohlman,  at 
that  time  provincial  of  the  Jesuits  in  Maryland,  to  send 
some  fathers  of  the  society  to  establish  a  college  in  this 
part  of  his  diocese,  and  take  spiritual  charge  of  the  In- 
dian tribes  that  still  lingered  in  Missouri.  Owing  to 
the  circumstance  that  there  were  not  more  members  of 
the  society  in  Maryland  at  that  period  than  were  strictly 
required  to  fulfil  obligations  which  had  been  previously 
assumed,  Father  Kohlman  was  not  then  able  to  comply 
with  the  bishop's  zealous  wish  for  help. 

Early  in  the  year  1823,  Bishop  Dubourg  went  to 
Washington  City,  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  Presi- 
dent Monroe,  and  the  secretary  of  war,  John  C.  Cal- 
houn,  on  the  subject  of  devising  means  for  educating 
the  children  of  Indian  tribes  within  his  diocese.  He 
was  kindly  received  by  these  courteous  officials,  and 
during  his  interview  with  them  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  secre- 
tary of  war,  suggested  the  expediency  of  inviting  the 
Jesuits  of  Georgetown  to  furnish  members  of  their  order 
to  assist  in  that  work.  The  bishop  at  once  laid  this 
proposition  before  Rev.  Charles  Neale,  who  had  recently 
succeeded  Rev.  Anthony  Kohlman  in  the  office  of  pro- 
vincial. The  bishop  offered  to  donate  a  fertile  farm 
near  the  Missouri  River,  in  a  north-western  direction 
from  St.  Louis,  and  at  a  distance  of  seventeen  miles 
from  that  town,  and  make  over  to  them  his  own  church 
and  residence  in  St.  Louis.  Father  Neale  believed  it 
might  be  possible  for  him  promptly  to  accept  the 
former  offer,  with  the  view  of  getting  up  a  school ;  but 
priests  could  not  be  spared,  over  and  above,  to  take 
charge  of  the  church  in  St.  Louis.  The  bishop's  kind 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  / 

offer  was  made  at  an  opportune  time  for  the  Jesuits  of 
Maryland  to  spare  a  number  of  their  younger  members, 
as  the  sequel  will  show. 

In  the  year  1820,  Rev.  Charles  Nerinckx  went  to 
Europe  on  business  connected  with  his  missions  in 
Kentucky  ;  and  when  he  returned  to  the  United  States, 
in  1821,  he  was  accompanied  by  a  number  of  young 
men,  most  of  whom  were  natives  of  Belgium,  who  came 
to  America  with  the  intention  of  devoting  their  lives  to 
priestly  and  missionary  employments.  Among  them 
were  F.  J.  Van  Assche,  P.  J.  De  Smet,  P.  J.  Verhaegen, 
J.  A.  Elet,  F.  L.  Verreydt,  and  J.  B.  Smedts,  from  Bel- 
gium ;  whose  aim  in  coming  to  the  United  States  was 
to  join  the  Jesuit  Society  in  Maryland,  a  purpose  which 
they  were  encouraged  to  execute  by  the  pious  Father 
Nerinckx.  They  were  admitted  as  novices  at  White 
Marsh,  Prince  George's  County,  Maryland,  on  October 
6,  1821  ;  and  up  to  the  time  of  their  reception  as 
novices  they  were  under  the  impression  that  in  taking 
such  a  step  they  were  preparing  to  enter  upon  a  mis- 
sionary career  among  the  aboriginal  savages  of  America ; 
for  they  believed  that  the  Jesuits  of  Maryland  had,  or 
else  were  to  have,  a  number  of  Indian  tribes  under  their 
spiritual  care.  The  master  of  novices  at  White  Marsh 
was  the  Rev.  Charles  Van  Quickenborne,  a  Belgian 
priest  from  Ghent,  who  had  come  to  the  United  States 
in  1817,  also  with  the  view  of  becoming  a  Jesuit  and 
going  to  missions  among  the  Indians. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1823,  Rev.  Charles 
Neale,  provincial  of  the  Jesuits  in  Maryland,  and  the 
master  of  novices,  Rev.  Charles  Van  Quickenborne, 
had  determined  that  it  was  expedient  to  transfer  the 
novices  from  White  Marsh,  in  Prince  George's  County, 


8  HISTORY   OF   THE   ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

to  St.  Thomas's  Manor,  in  Charles  County.  It  had  be- 
come necessary  to  take  this  step,  owing  to  the  impov- 
erished condition  of  the  novitiate  at  White  Marsh,  and 
the  inability  of  the  province  to  support  the  novices. 
The  soil  at  White  Marsh,  which  was  originally  fertile, 
had  been  exhausted  by  successive  crops  of  corn  and 
tobacco  raised  on  it  for  generations,  without  a  year  of 
intermission ;  and  besides,  that  farm  was  burdened  with 
a  heavy  debt,  whereas  the  land  in  Charles  County  was 
very  productive,  and  the  premises  unencumbered  with 
any  debt. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances,  and  while  actually 
deliberating  about  the  removal  of  the  novices  from 
White  Marsh  to  Charles  County,  that  Bishop  Dubourg, 
at  the  suggestion  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  secretary  of 
war,  again  applied  to  the  Jesuits  of  Maryland  for  a 
community  of  the  order  to  settle  in  Missouri,  with  a 
view  of  founding  missions  and  schools  among  the  In- 
dian tribes  dwelling  within  his  diocese.  His  request 
was  made  at  an  auspicious  time,  and  his  offer  of  the 
farm  near  Florissant  was  readily  accepted,  as  a  provi- 
dential solution  of  the  difficulties  in  which  the  novitiate 
at  White  Marsh  was  then  involved.  The  provincial,  Rev. 
Charles  Neale,  proposed  the  wish  of  Bishop  Dubourg 
to  Father  Van  Quickenborne,  novice  master,  and  ex- 
pressed his  own  desire  for  the  pious  rector  of  White 
Marsh  to  be  the  leader  and  superior  of  a  band,  includ- 
ing such  of  the  novices  as  might  freely  choose  to  accom- 
pany him,  and  that  with  them  and  a  few  older  mem- 
bers he  should  start  to  Missouri,  so  soon  as  necessary 
arrangements  for  the  journey  could  be  made.  Father 
Van  Quickenborne  gave  his  cordial  approval  to  the  un- 
dertaking, which  he  did  all  the  more  fully  and  promptly, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY  9 

as  it  was  a  desire  of  being  a  missionary  among  the  sav- 
age Indians  that  had  first  prompted  him  to  leave  his 
native  land  and  come  to  America. 

Father  Van  Quickenborne  announced  to  the  novices 
the  decision  made  by  the  provincial  concerning  his  des- 
tination for  Missouri ;  that  a  community  of  the  society 
was  to  be  established  there,  with  a  view  to  getting  up 
a  school  for  Indian  boys  and  to  sending  out  mission- 
aries to  evangelize  the  wild  tribes.  He  also  made 
known  to  them  that  any  of  the  novices  who  desired  to 
accompany  him  would  be  free  to  do  so ;  whereupon  the 
six  young  Belgians  already  named  as  coming  with 
Father  Nerinckx  to  the  United  States  in  1821,  answered 
enthusiastically  that  nothing  could  be  more  pleasing  to 
them  than  to  be  his  companions  in  a  journey  to  the 
region  where  the  red  man  dwelt,  and  his  co-laborers  in 
such  works ;  they  were  already  longing  for  the  time  to 
come  when  the  opportunity  would  be  afforded  them  of 
devoting  their  lives  to  the  conversion  and  civilization  of 
the  wild  Indians  in  the  Far  West. 

It  was  now  plain  that  the  pious  design  of  the  zealous 
and  far-seeing  Bishop  Dubourg  was  at  length  to  be 
realized,  and  that  his  plan  for  Christianizing  the  West- 
ern tribes  of  Indians  was  likely  to  produce  some  good 
result.  He  believed  that  while  the  young  men  were 
trained  in  virtue  and  learning  at  their  new  home  in  Mis- 
souri, the  little  community  could  support  itself  mainly 
by  the  excellent  farm  the  members  were  to  receive  ; 
and  that  a  few  years  would  suffice  to  fit  them  for  the 
wide  field  of  usefulness  which  was  even  then  ready  for 
them  in  his  extensive  and  growing  diocese. 


CHAPTER    II. 

FATHER  VAN  QUICKENBORNE'S  WORKS  AMONG  THE 
PEOPLE  AROUND  WHITE  MARSH  — PREPARATIONS 
TO  START  ON  THEIR  TRIP  TO  MISSOURI  — JOURNEY 
TO  ST.  LOUIS  BY  WAY  OF  BALTIMORE,  CUMBER- 
LAND, WHEELING  — ON  FLATBOATS  TO  SHAWNEE- 
TOWN,  THENCE  ON  FOOT  TO  ST.  LOUIS. 

FATHER  VAN  QUICKENBORNE'S  great  charity  and  active 
zeal,  with  his  natural  gentleness  of  manners,  made  him 
dear  to  the  people  of  a  large  district  around  White 
Marsh.  He  built  a  church  at  Annapolis,  fifteen  miles 
from  White  Marsh,  where  he  gave  divine  service  once 
in  every  two  weeks ;  and  another  one  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  novitiate,  both  of  which  he  quickly  freed  from  all 
debt.  He  visited  the  sick  and  the  poor  regularly,  not 
excepting  the  hovels  of  the  negroes;  and  all  classes  of 
the  people  looked  up  to  him  as  a  wise  counsellor  and  a 
beneficent  friend,  in  whom  they  could  confide  when 
misfortune  befel  them,  without  fear  or  hesitancy.  Each 
year  of  his  stay  at  White  Marsh,  this  laborious  priest 
brought  back  to  the  fold  at  least  one  hundred  persons 
that  had  been  wandering  astray,  as  his  novices  after- 
wards well  remembered.1  It  might  be  naturally  ex- 
pected, then,  that  when  the  news  of  his  intended  de- 


1  He  gave  a  recreation  clay,  and  extra  dishes    at  the  dinner,  to   the 
novices  every  year  when  the  number  of  those  conversions  to  a  correct 
life  reached  one  hundred. 
(10) 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  II 

parture,  with  a  portion  of  the  community  at  White 
Marsh,  for  the  Far  West  went  abroad,  the  people  of  the 
surrounding  country  should  be  pained  at  the  loss  they 
were  about  to  sustain.  They  contributed  money  liber- 
ally towards  purchasing  the  necessary  outfit,  and  gave 
various  articles  useful  for  the  journey ;  thus  a  very  short 
time  sufficed  to  complete  all  arrangements  to  start  for 
Missouri. 

The  members  of  the  society  selected  to  begin  the 
new  mission  in  the  West  made  up  a  band  of  twelve : 
two  priests,  Rev.  Charles  Van  Quickenborne,  superior, 
and  Rev.  Peter  J.  Timmermans,  his  assistant;  there 
were  seven  aspirants  to  the  priesthood,  namely :  F.  J. 
Van  Assche,  P.  J.  De  Smet,  J.  A.  Elet,  F.  L.  Verreydt, 
P.  J.  Verhsegen,  J.  B.  Smedts,  and  J.  De  Maillet;  there 
were  three  lay  brothers:  Peter  De  Meyer,  Henry  Reis- 
selman,  and  Charles  Strahan.1  The  day  settled  on  for 
their  departure  was  April  11,  1823;  they  started  early 
on  that  day,  and  when  sunset  came  they  had  reached 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Baltimore,  where  they 
spent  the  night  all  together,  in  one  large  room.  At 
Baltimore  their  trunks,  boxes,  and  various  parcels  for 
the  journey  were  placed  on  two  large  wagons,  each 
drawn  by  six  horses;  and  these  wagons  were  hired 
to  haul  their  goods  all  the  way  to  Wheeling.  Besides, 
they  had  taken  with  them  from  White  Marsh  a  light 
spring  wagon,  drawn  by  one  horse,  in  which  were 
placed  some  smaller  objects  needed  for  the  journey; 

1  In  the  party  there  were  also  three  families  of  negro  servants,  who 
were  to  work  the  farm  in  Missouri :  Moses  and  his  wife,  — their  children 
were  left  in  Maryland;  Tom  and  his  wife,  Isaac  and  his  wife,  —  the  last 
two  couples  having  no  children. 


12  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

and  on  this  lighter  wagon  also  they  were  to  ride  who 
became  unwell  or  disabled,  for  the  entire  journey  to 
Wheeling  was  to  be  made  on  foot. 

All  things  being  made  ready,  the  party  started  from 
Baltimore,  Monday,  April  I4th,  on  their  way  to  Wheel- 
ing, beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  far  the  most 
painful  portion  of  the  long  road  to  Missouri.  The  young 
men  and  the  lay  brothers  had  started  two  days  earlier 
to  Conewago,  Adams  County,  Pennsylvania,  where  they 
remained  five  days,  in  order  to  transcribe  Father  Plow- 
den's  Instructions  on  Religious  Perfection,  begun  at 
White  Marsh,  but  not  finished.  From  Conewago  they 
went  to  Frederick,  where  the  rest  of  the  party  and  the 
wagons  were  awaiting  them,  and  they  remained  there 
one  day.  Father  John  McElroy,  who  then  had  charge 
of  the  church  and  residence  at  Frederick,  presented  to 
Father  Van  Quickenborne  a  fine  roan  horse,  an  excel- 
lent pacer,  which  was  of  much  advantage  on  the  long 
journey  across  the  mountains,  and  for  many  years  of 
service  after  the  party  arrived  in  Missouri.  They  went 
by  way  of  Cumberland,  resting  one  night  in  that  town, 
at  a  boarding-house.  They  carried  their  own  bedding 
with  them,  lodging  at  night  in  dwellings  or  out-houses, 
according  to  the  exigencies  of  the  case  ;  and,  generally, 
they  cooked  their  own  meals. 

After  a  trip  of  eighteen  days  from  Baltimore,  they 
reached  Wheeling,  without  having  met  with  any  serious 
accident.  At  Wheeling  they  were  delayed  three  days, 
during  which  they  were  the  guests  of  Mr.  Thompson, 
a  wealthy  and  hospitable  Catholic  gentleman,  whose 
worthy  daughter,  a  member  of  the  Sacred  Heart  order, 
and  lately  deceased,  has  helped  to  keep  her  father's 


HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS   UNIVERSITY.  1 3 

name  in  honorable  remembrance ; x  at  his  house  the 
priests  journeying  from  the  diocese  of  Bardstown  to 
Baltimore,  in  those  early  days,  were  accustomed  to  stop 
and  rest,  as  appears  by  the  letters  and  diaries  of  Rev. 
Charles  Nerinckx  and  Father  Badin. 

At  Wheeling  they  purchased  two  flatboats,  one  of 
which  carried  the  negro  servants  and  the  larger  and 
heavier  portion  of  the  load  to  be  transported ;  the  other 
was  occupied  by  Father  Van  Quickenborne  and  com- 
panions, the  two  boats  being  securely  lashed  together. 
When  all  was  ready,  their  little  vessels  floated  out  upon 
the  placid  current  of  the  Ohio,  "  the  beautiful  river," 
about  the  beginning  of  May,  1823,  with  their  interest- 
ing burden,  destined  for  the  land  of  the  red  man,  on 
the  banks  of  the  far-rolling  Missouri.  Nearly  forty 
years  before  this  time,  the  first  Catholic  emigrants  from 
St.  Mary's  and  Charles  Counties,  Maryland,  had  passed 
this  same  scene,  running  the  perilous  gauntlet  of 
Indian  ambuscades  on  both  shores  of  the  river,  for  the 
new  settlements  in  "the  dark  and  bloody  land  "  of  the 
aboriginal  Shawana.2  Just  thirty  years  before  this  jour- 


1  One  of  the  missioners  gave  to  Mr.  Thompson  a  pious  picture,  with 
the  names  of  the  party  written  on  the  back.     This  picture  was  sent   by 
Mr.  Thompson  to  his  daughter,  then  at  school  in  Baltimore,  and  with  it 
a  letter,  in  which  he  gave  an  account  of  his  visitors,   explaining  the  ob- 
ject of  their  journey  to  Missouri.     This  letter   from  her  father,  with  the 
picture,  she  kept  through  life,  and  she  reminded  Father  Van  Assche  of 
the  incident,  fifty  years  later,  as  a  circumstance  that  had  influenced  her 
entire  life. 

2  Father  Marquette,  after  discovering  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  in  July, 
1673,  described  the  territory  now  comprised  in   Kentucky  as   inhabited 
by  the  Shawanas,  called  Shawnees  at  the  present  day;  and  Schoolcraft, 
in  his  great  work  on  the  Indian  tribes  of  North  America,    says  that  the 
Shawnees  always  claimed  Kentucky  as  their  original  home. 

In  1785,  sixty  Catholic  families  of  St  Mary's  and  Charles  Counties, 


14  HISTORY   OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

ney  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries  to  Missouri,  the  illustri- 
ous Father  Badin,  the  first  priest  ordained  in  the  United 
States,  had  travelled  down  the  Ohio  on  his  way  to  the 
hundreds  of  Catholic  families  in  Kentucky,  who  were 
then  without  the  sacraments  that  give  peace  in  life  and 
hope  in  death.1 

Their  boats  drifted  on  day  and  night,  without  tying 
up.  In  a  few  instances,  high  winds  came  near  strand- 
ing the  unwieldy  vessels  ;  and  twice  they  were  driven 
among  brushwood  and  fallen  trees,  from  which  they 
were  extricated  with  much  difficulty ;  and  on  a  few  oc- 
casions they  narrowly  escaped  being  run  into  by  pass- 
ing steamboats.  The  missionaries  often  related,  many 
years  afterwards,  how,  during  one  dark,  silent  night, 
they  saw  flaming  furnaces  at  the  distance  of  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  below  them,  and  concluded  that  a  steam- 
boat was  ascending  directly  towards  them.  Brother 


Maryland,  formed  a  league  with  the  view  of  emigrating  to  Kentucky, 
and  settling  together  for  mutual  protection  against  the  Indians,  and  in 
order  that  they  might  have  a  church.  Twenty-five  of  these  families 
emigrated  to  Kentucky  in  1785  ;  and  the  remaining  thirty-five  families, 
joined  by  others  not  of  the  league,  followed  in  the  succeeding  years. 
Catholic  emigration,  thus  begun,  did  not  entirely  cease  before  the  year 
1818  or  1820.  This  movement  was  first  gotten  up  mainly  through  the 
influence  of  Basil  Hayden,  whose  bond  for  land  was  signed  at  Balti- 
more, and  was  recorded  at  Bardstown,  Kentucky;  it  was  signed  by 
Philip  Lee,  who  kept  and  left  after  him  a  record  which  was  begun  in 

'735- 

1  In  Major  Craig's  Letter-Books  (see  Magazine  of  American  History, 
Vol.  II.,  p.  300)  occurs  the  folio  wing  entry,  dated  June  15,  1793  :  "Wheel- 
ing was  laid  out  in  the  summer  of  1792,  and  now  has  eight  log  houses, 
with  two  small  stores  near  the  landing.  The  stockade  fort,  built  in 
1774,  is  entirely  demolished.  The  inhabitants  are  at  present  without 
any  place  of  defence." 

Previous  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  flatboat  or  keel- 
boat  of  the  emigrant  to  the  West  started  on  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburgh. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  15 

Strahan,  who  claimed  to  be  familiar  with  seafaring 
practices,  suggested  that,  in  such  emergency,  nautical 
customs  should  be  observed;  and,  accordingly,  good 
Father  Van  Quickenborne  seized  a  fire-brand,  and 
whirling  the  blazing  fagot  around  his  head,  shouted 
with  much  strength  of  lungs  to  the  huge  monster  toiling 
up  the  current,  and,  as  it  seemed,  straight  to  the  bows 
of  their  clumsy  flatboats,  "  Ship,  ahoy  !  ship,  ahoy !  " 
His  powerful  voice  echoed  far  among  the  hills  and  dense 
woods  stretching  back  from  the  river  banks ;  but  his 
call  elicited  no  answer,  and  caused  no  change  in  the 
direction  of  the  bright  fires,  in  a  straight  line  before 
them.  They  were  soon  agreeably  relieved,  however, 
by  discovering,  on  nearer  approach,  that  the  object 
which  excited  their  terror  was  only  a  steam  saw-mill  on 
the  main  shore  in  a  curve  of  the  river. 

The  travellers  had  Mass  on  the  boat  every  morning; 
and  all  the  observances  of  community  life  were  per- 
formed with  nearly  as  much  exactness  and  regularity 
as  in  the  novitiate  at  White  Marsh.  A  bell  was  rung 
for  rising,  meditation,  examination  of  conscience,  etc., 
and  hence  they  appropriately  styled  their  boat  "a 
floating  monastery." 

Two  days  after  their  departure  from  Wheeling,  their 
boats  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Kanawha  River, 
and  the  island  two  miles  below  it,  where  a  costly  pile  of 
decayed  grandeur  still  commemorated  the  eccentricities 
of  the  romantic  and  unfortunate  Irish  gentleman,  Har- 
man  Blannerhasset.  He  had  built  a  princely  residence 
on  this  island  in  1798,  laid  ofif  its  grounds  in  parks,  and 
gardens,  and  grassy  lawns ;  and  his  home  became  a  resort 
of  learning  and  fashion.  But  in  the  year  1807  he  joined 
Aaron  Burr  in  his  conspiracy  to  dismember  the  Union, 


l6  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

and  thereby  he  lost  both  his  fortune  and  his  reputation. 
Already  in  1823,  his  once  beautiful  pleasure-grounds 
were  overrun  with  wild  weeds,  and  brambles,  and  vulgar 
trees;  and  his  dwelling-house,  burned  down  in  1811, 
was  a  heap  of  ruins,  giving  a  peculiar  sadness  to  the 
surrounding  scene  of  complete  solitude. 

Father  Van  Quickenborne  had  procured  at  Wheeling 
a  "  pilot,"  or  guide-book  for  the  river.  But  even  Brother 
Strahan,  with  his  unquestioned  proficiency  in  the  art  of 
navigation,  was  not  able  to  verify  from  it  all  the  impor- 
tant landmarks,  or  to  use  with  unfailing  certainty  its 
bearings,  its  latitudes,  and  departures ;  and  hence,  on 
one  occasion,  when  winding  through  a  group  of  thickly 
wooded  islands,  he  and  all  the  party  became  so  per- 
plexed over  the  directions  given  in  the  "  pilot,"  and  the 
points  of  the  compass,  as  to  conclude  that  the  boats 
were  actually  returning  up-stream  towards  Wheeling. 

In  the  year  1823  the  Western  States  were  but 
sparsely  peopled;  there  were  few  towns  on  the  Ohio 
River  which,  with  the  exception  of  Cincinnati  and 
Louisville,  were  more  than  hamlets  consisting  of  a  few 
scattered  cabins.  In  journeying  down  that  river  the 
travellers  seldom  saw  a  dwelling,  to  cause  a  break  in 
the  primeval  forests.  The  scenery  on  the  Ohio  is  not 
grand  or  sublime,  like  that  of  the  Hudson ;  but  it  pos- 
sesses beauty  which  is  varied,  and  is  always  interesting. 
The  woods  then  abounded  in  wild  game,  not  yet  driven 
from  their  prescriptive  home  in  the  tangled  thickets. 
There  were  no  marksmen  of  the  party  on  the  flatboats, 
and  their  best  efforts  to  kill  a  deer  were  never  success- 
ful, even  though  it  once  happened  that  their  boats  got 
near  one  swimming  across  the  river;  but  they  took 
their  want  of  the  huntsman's  skill  with  much  good 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  I/ 

humor,  though  not  having  the  luxury  of  fresh  venison 
once  during  their  trip. 

The  travellers  made  no  stop  at  Cincinnati.  Bishop 
Fenwick,1  who  was  consecrated  for  that  new  see  only 
the  preceding  year,  was  not  then  in  Cincinnati ;  but  at 
Louisville  they  remained  one  day.  Here  their  boats 
were  unloaded  and  their  freight  was  hauled  in  wagons 
to  Portland,  three  miles  from  Louisville,  and  across  a 
neck  of  land  around  which  the  river  flows,  making  the 
segment  of  a  circle.2  Between  Louisville  and  Portland 
are  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  so  famous  among  river  men. 
The  empty  flatboats  were  committed  to  "  a  falls  pilot," 
to  be  steered  down  the  rapids,  and  he  was  accompanied 
in  the  descent,  which  is  perilous  in  low  water,  by  young 
Van  Assche. 

But  the  party  had  another  reason  for  making  some  stay 
in  Louisville  :  it  was  the  presence  there  of  the  venerable 
missionary,  Father  Nerinckx,  with  whom  most  of  them 
had  first  come  to  America ;  one,  Brother  De  Meyer,  had 
come  with  him  to  the  United  States  in  1817,  and  the 


1  Bishop  Fenwick  was  in  Europe  that  year,  in  quest  of  help  towards 
organizing  his  new  diocese  ;  he  left  for  America  early  in  1824. 

2  Schoolcraft,   in  his  great  work,  "History  of  the   Indian   Tribes," 
Part  III.,  p.  342,   quotes  a  passage  from   "Memoranda  of  a  Journey 
in  the  Western  parts  of  the  United  States,  in  1785,  by  Lewis  Brantz." 
Brantz,  speaking  of  Louisville  as  he  saw  it  in  1785,  says:   "Louisville 
is  located   near  the   Falls ;  some  houses  are  already  erected ;  yet  this 
lonely  settlement   resembles  a  desert  more  than  a  town.     More    than 
20,000  are  already  estimated  in  this  region  (Kentucky).  " 

In  a  diary  of  Major  Beattie,  paymaster  United  States  army  (see 
Magazine  of  American  History,  Vol.  L,  p.  242),  he  says  of  Louisville, 
which  he  saw  in  1786:  "Louisville  consists  of  fifty  or  sixty  houses,  a 
good  deal  scattered,  chiefly  log,  some  frame.  *  *  *  Bardstown 
consists  of  fifty  or  sixty  log  houses,  regularly  laid  out,  and  pretty  well 
built,  the  capital  of  Nelson  County,  as  Louisville  is  of  Jefferson." 


1 8  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

seven  novices  had  come  with  him  in  1821.  Father 
Nerinckx  had  come  to  Louisville  a  few  days  previous, 
in  order  to  see  safe  on  the  steamboat  a  colony  of  Loretto 
nuns  going  to  the  Barrens  in  Missouri;  and  he  awaited 
the  arrival  of  his  Belgian  friends,  whom  he  knew  to  be 
then  coming  near,  also  on  their  way  to  Missouri.  It 
was  a  great  gratification  for  this  saintly  and  austere  man 
of  God  again  to  meet  these  heroic  young  men,  now 
devoting  themselves  to  a  life  of  privation  and  toil  for 
the  religious  welfare  of  the  Indians,  in  a  place  where, 
as  they  had  been  led  to  suppose,  they  could  reasonably 
expect  little  of  human  comfort,  with  no  society  save 
that  of  coarse,  degraded,  and  ignorant  savages,  beyond 
the  borders  of  civilization.  Father  Nerinckx  *  contin- 
ued to  the  very  end  of  his  life  to  take  a  cordial  interest 
in  these  young  men,  and  one  of  his  last  acts  in  life  was 
to  visit  them  at  their  new  home  in  Missouri. 

Louisville  was  then  a  small  town,  but  it  was  growing 
rapidly  in  business  and  population.  There  were  few 
Catholics  there ;  yet  their  prospects  for  the  future  had 
improved  since  the  Rev.  Robert  Abell  had  come,  the 
preceding  year,  1822,  to  reside  most  of  his  time  among 
them.  Even  at  the  jubilee  of  1826  there  were  only  fifty 
communions  in  Louisville. 

Father  Van  Quickenborne  had  his  horses  and  wagon. 


1  Father  Nerinckx  went  to  Missouri  in  1824,  there  to  spend  his 
remaining  days  on  earth.  He  asked  Bishop  Rosati,  coadjutor  of  Bishop 
Dubourg,  for  the  most  needy  and  abandoned  mission  in  his  diocese, 
believing,  in  his  humility,  that  he  was  no  longer  capable  of  any  differ- 
ent employment.  He  spent  some  days  with  his  Belgian  friends  at  their 
home  near  Florissant;  he  also  visited  the  convent  of  Loretto  nuns 
founded  at  the  Barrens  during  the  preceding  year.  Death  ended  all 
further  earthly  trouble  for  this  remarkable  man  on  August  12,  1824,  at 
St.  Genevieve,  Missouri. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  IQ 

and  all  goods  belonging  to  his  companions  reshipped  at 
Portland ;  and  then,  after  taking  an  affectionate  leave 
of  Father  Nerinckx,  their  boats  were  soon  again  gliding 
down  the  Ohio  River  towards  their  still  distant  home 
on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri.  As  they  had  no  special 
perils  to  encounter  on  the  tranquil  waters  of  the  Lower 
Ohio,  their  trip  from  Louisville  to  Shawneetown  was  a 
pleasant  one ;  though  perhaps  less  interesting  to  the 
young  men,  from  the  fact  that  it  was  destitute  of  any 
but  ordinary  incidents.  At  Shawneetown,  situated  a 
short  distance  below  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash  River, 
and  then  a  small  village,  their  trip  on  the  Ohio  River 
terminated.  There  they  disposed  of  their  flatboats, 
sent  their  trunks,  boxes,  and  other  heavy  luggage  by 
steamboat  to  St.  Louis,  and  with  their  light  wagon  they 
crossed  the  prairies  of  Southern  Illinois  to  St.  Louis 
the  young  men  going  the  entire  journey  on  foot.  Many 
who  travelled  by  land  from  Kentucky  and  other  States 
farther  east  to  Missouri,  in  that  day,  crossed  the  Ohio 
at  Shawneetown,  where  there  was  a  safe  ferry;  and 
thence  to  St.  Louis,  which  was  one  hundred  and  forty 
miles  distant,  there  was  a  road  that  was  good  in  fair 
weather.  Our  band  of  missionaries  completed  this  part 
of  their  long  journey  from  Baltimore  in  seven  days ; 
but,  much  rain  having  fallen  during  the  spring,  the  prai 
ries  were  quite  wet,  the  water  in  many  places  being 
over  their  boot-tops.  They  were  much  tormented  by 
the  unaccustomed  song  and  sting  of  mosquitoes,  which 
swarm  up  from  the  lagoons  of  Southern  Illinois  in  warm 
and  rainy  seasons.  They  lodged  at  the  farmers'  houses, 
which,  at  that  period,  were  there  "  few  and  far  be 
tween  ;"  and  when  this  was  not  practicable,  they  would 


2O  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

spread  their  pallets  on  the  barn  floor  or  in  stable- 
loft 

The  travellers  reached  the  Mississippi  just  opposite 
St.  Louis  at  one  o'clock,  p.  M.,  on  Saturday,  May  31, 
1823.  They  were  deeply  impressed  with  the  grandeur 
of  the  "  Great  River,"  as  the  name  "  Mississippi  "  signi- 
fies, which  was  then  high  ;  the  water  being  level  with  its 
banks,  while  the  main  channel  was  covered  with  huge 
quantities  of  driftwood  hurrying  onward  with  the  mighty 
current.1 

Now,  after  a  wearisome  journey  of  just  six  weeks 
from  White  Marsh,  in  Maryland,  through  the  high  mo- 
tives that  impelled  them,  still  dominant  in  their  thoughts, 
it  was  a  goodly  sight  to  gaze  upon  St.  Louis,  with  which 
they  were  to  become,  in  some  manner,  identified ;  and 
upon  the  mighty  river  down  which  the  illustrious  Mar- 
quette  was  the  first  to  pass  this  scene,  just  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before  that  day,  or  in  i6/3.2 

In  the  year  1823,  St.  Louis  was  merely  a  small  fron- 
tier town  of  less  than  five  thousand  inhabitants.  But 
from  having  been  a  village  of  Upper  Louisiana,  possess- 
ing no  definite  future  promise,  it  was  already  giving 
evidences  of  new  growth  and  commercial  prosperity, 


1  The  Mississippi,  which  is  now  turbid  aud  muddy  at  all  stages  of 
high  and  low  water,  derives  this  quality  of  its  waters  from  the  Missouri, 
called  Pekitanoui  by  the  Indians ;  that  is,  the  muddy  river.  The 
muddy  waters  are  contributed  to  the  Missouri  itself  by  the  Milk  River, 
whose  mouth  is  about  two  hundred  miles  above  that  of  the  Yellowstone, 
and  also,  but  in  a  less  degree,  by  White  Earth  River,  whose  mouth  is 
below  that  of  the  Yellowstone.  Missouri  was  the  name  of  an  Indian 
tribe,  now  extinct,  once  dwelling  on  the  shores  of  the  river  still  bearing 
their  name. 

3  See  appendix  at  end  of  chapter. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  21 

especially  since  the  purchase  of  Missouri  by  the  United 
States,  and  the  advent  thither  of  the  busy,  restless,  con- 
triving, thrifty  Yankee,  with  the  noise  of  his  hammers 
and  the  clack  of  his  machinery.1 

The  day  after  the  travellers  arrived  at  St.  Louis  was 
Sunday,  within  the  octave  of  Corpus  Christi,  and  there 
was  a  procession  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  through  the 
streets,  with  music  and  firing  of  cannon.  Father  Van 
Quickenborne  carried  the  Blessed  Sacrament  in  the  pro- 
cession. The  church  was  of  brick,  but  it  had  never 
been  finished.  Near  the  church  was  the  "  college  build- 
ing," in  which  dwelt  five  secular  priests,  who  carried  on 
a  classical  school  therein,  aided,  when  necessary,  by 
some  extra  teachers.  After  the  new-comers  had  dined 
with  the  hospitable  priests  at  the  college,  Father  Van 
Quickenborne  rode  his  noble  roan  pacer  out  to  Floris- 
sant that  evening,  accompanied  by  Father  Lacroix,  who 
had  come  in  to  meet  him.  As  already  stated,  the  Ladies 
of  the  Sacred  Heart  had  a  house  and  school  at  Florissant, 
which  they  first  occupied  near  the  end  of  the  year 
1819.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  cabins  on  the  farm 
donated  by  Bishop  Dubourg  to  the  Jesuits,  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  to  the  north-west  of  Florissant,  were  not 
yet  vacated,  arrangements  were  perfected  to  lodge  the 
new-comers  in  the  building  used  by  the  Ladies  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  for  a  day-school,,  till  possession  of  the 
cabins  could  be  obtained.  A  day  or  two  later,  about 


1  The  intelligent  and  scholarly  H.  M.  Breckenridge  foretold,  after 
visiting  St.  Louis  in  1811,  that  its  position  would  ultimately  make  of  it  a 
great  city.  See  his  "Views  of  Louisiana,"  published  at  Pittsburgh  in 
1814.  St.  Louis  was  first  laid  out  and  named  in  March,  1764,  by  Pierre 
Laclede  Liguest.  Col.  August  Chouteau  had  arrived  February  15, 
1764. 


22  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

half  the  party  went  on  from  St.  Louis  to  join  Father 
Van  Quickenborne  at  Florissant,  and  they  were  quickly 
followed  by  the  remainder,  all  making  the  journey  on 
foot,  and  the  last  ones  reaching  their  destination  on 
June  3d.  They  stopped  midway  to  rest,  eat  a  luncheon, 
and  quench  their  thirst  with  the  water  of  the  historic 
Maligne  Creek.1  During  their  stay  at  the  village  of 
Florissant,  in  a  house  which  served  for  school  purposes 
and  for  their  meals  in  the  daytime,  and  for  their  lodg- 
ing at  night,  "  the  kind  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,"  to 
use  the  words  of  the  amiable  Father  Van  Assche,  uttered 
more  than  fifty  years  later,  "imitated  the  raven  of  old, 
carrying  bread  to  the  hermitage  of  Paul  in  the  desert; 
with  the  exception  that  they  gave  food  three  times  a 
day,  and  not  bread  alone,  as  did  the  raven  to  Paul  the 
Hermit,  but  several  things  besides,  both  wholesome 
and  palatable." 

Florissant,  or  St.  Ferdinand  Township,  was  first  set- 
tled shortly  after  St.  Louis  was  founded.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century,  the  fields  around  the  village 
supplied  nearly  all  the  grain  purchased  in  the  St.  Louis 
market.  Florissant  Valley  was  famous  from  the  begin- 
ning for  its  beauty  and  fertility.  H.  M.  Breckenridge, 
whose  "  Views  of  Louisiana  "  were  herein  cited  before, 
visited  this  spot  in  1811,  and  speaks  of  it  in  terms  of 
admiration :  "  Between  St.  Louis  and  the  Missouri,  with 
but  trifling  exceptions,  the  lands  are  of  superior  quality ; 


1  There  was  a  "Maligne  River"  in  Canada,  so  named,  perhaps,  by 
the  early  missionaries.  See  this  river  as  mentioned  in  the  American 
Magazine  of  History,  vol.  for  1878,  p.  697.  The  name  seems  to  have 
been  brought  from  Canada  by  some  of  the  earlier  settlers  around  Flor- 
issant, and  given  to  this  little  stream  because,  in  heavy  rains,  it  rises  to 
a  great  height,  overflowing  the  adjacent  lands  and  doing  much  damage; 
besides,  it  is  then  dangerous  to  ford  it,  "  the  maligne  "  or  wicked  creek. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  23 

there  are  some  beautiful  spots,  as  the  village  of  Floris- 
sant and  the  environs.  No  description  can  do  justice 
to  the  beauty  of  this  tract."  x 

When  this  region  was  under  the  government  of  Spain, 
or  before  the  end  of  the  last  century,  and  till  a  short 
while  before  it  was  transferred  to  the  United  States, 
Florissant  was  for  a  time  the  home  of  the  Spanish  in- 
tendant  or  governor.  His  dwelling,  which  was  con- 
structed of  cedar  logs,  planted  upright  on  sleepers,  into 
which  they  were  firmly  mortised,  was  torn  down  only  a 
few  years  ago,  its  timbers  being  still  perfectly  sound. 
Its  position  was  nearly  in  front  of  the  present  church  at 
Florissant,  and  at  a  distance  from  it  of  little  more  than  a 
hundred  and  fifty  yards.  This  house  was  occupied  by 
the  Trappist  monks  in  1809,  who  had  that  year  closed 
their  two  houses  in  Kentucky  —  one  in  Nelson  County, 
the  other  in  Casey  County  —  and  removed  to  Missouri. 
In  1810  these  monks  again  moved,  this  time  to  "  Look- 
ing-Glass  Prairie,"  on  Cahokia  Creek,  Illinois,  and  set- 
tled upon  a  mound,  six  miles  from  the  present  bridge 
at  St.  Louis,  on  the  Collinsville  Plank-road,  this  mound 
still  bearing  the  name  of  "  Monks'  Mound."  Sickness 
and  loss  by  death,  together  with  misfortune  caused  by 
fire,  compelled  the  survivors  to  abandon  this  malarial 
district  in  the  spring  of  1813,  and  they  then  returned 
to  France,  whence  they  had  originally  come  in  1804. 
Their  prior,  Rev.  Joseph  M.  Dunand,  remained  seven 
years  longer  in  America,  or  till  1820,  residing  most  of 
this  time  at  Florissant. 

Previous  to  the  year  1805,  or  1808,  the  French  set- 
tlers of  Missouri  lived  in  villages,  and  cultivated  com- 


1  Views  of  Louisiana,  Book  II.,  chap.  2. 


24  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

mon  fields,  —  a  mode  of  living  which  they  resorted  to  tor 
better  protection  against  the  Indians.  They  established 
separate  and  individual  ownership  of  such  property 
soon  after  Anglo-American  emigrants  first  began  to 
settle  among  them,  and  they  were  gradually  intro- 
ducing the  new  system  when  Breckenridge  travelled 
through  this  district  in  1811. 


A  fragment  of  local  history  is  here  appended,  which 
may  prove  acceptable,  however,  even  to  the  general 
reader  interested  in  what  concerns  the  celebrated  Mar- 
quette. 

Father  Douay,  belonging  to  the  party  of  La  Salle, 
who  passed  this  spot  some  eight  years  later  than  Mar- 
quette  did,  cast  suspicions  on  Marquette's  narrative  of 
his  discoveries,  endeavoring  to  show  that  Marquette's 
diary  was  a  mere  fiction,  made  up  of  what  he  had 
learned  by  hearsay  from  the  Indians  about  the  great 
lakes.  Marquette  described  some  figures  which  he  ':aw 
painted  high  up  on  a  perpendicular  cliff,  just  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri.  Father  Douay,  Recollet,  saw 
paintings  on  a  rock  at  what  is  now  known  as  "  Grand 
Tower,"  below  St.  Genevieve,  where  the  river  passes 
through  a  sort  of  gate  in  the  original  bluff.  While  there 
seems  to  be  no  tradition  that  any  of  the  first  French 
settlers  of  Kaskaskia,  Prairie  du  Rocher,  or  Cahokia 
ever  saw  or  knew  of  this  painting  at  Grand  Tower,  yet 
the  one  seen  by  Marquette  remained  perfectly  distinct 
till  the  rock  on  which  he  saw  it  was  quarried  down,  a 
few  years  since.  Father  De  Smet  often  stated  that  he 
heard  an  aged  chief  of  the  Pottawatomies,  at  Council 


HISTORY   OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  2$ 

Bluffs,  in  1838,  tell  about  this  painting :  it  was  a  likeness 
of  the  piasa,  which  the  chief  explained  as  being,  the 
bird  that  devours  men.  An  island  not  far  from  Alton 
still  bears  the  name  Paysa,  or  Piasa  ;  and,  according  to 
the  chief,  it  was  a  favorite  haunt  of  this  bird.  He  went 
on  to  tell  how,  "  many  thousand  moons  before  the  ar- 
rival of  the  white  men,  when  the  great  mammoth  that 
was  slain  by  Nanabush  still  roamed  over  the  wide 
grassy  prairies,  there  existed  a  very  large  bird  that 
could  seize  and  carry  off  a  full-grown  deer  in  his  talons 
as  easily  as  a  hawk  could  take  up  a  wren.  It  once 
pounced  upon  an  Indian  brave,  bore  him  off  to  a  deep 
cavern  under  the  neighboring  cliffs,  and  there  devoured 
him.  From  that  time  forth  it  would  feed  on  none  but 
human  flesh'.  In  its  voracity,  it  depopulated  whole  vil- 
lages of  Illinois  or  Peewareas,  nor  could  hundreds  of 
stout  warriors  destroy  it.  At  length  a  bold  chief  named 
Outaga,  whose  fame  extended  beyond  the  great  lakes, 
was  commanded  by  the  great  Manitou,  who  appeared 
to  him  in  a  dream,  to  single  out  twenty  warriors,  with 
bows  and  poisoned  arrows,  and  by  them  the  hungry 
piasa  should  be  slain.  They  found  the  huge  bird 
perched  on  the  high  rock  that  still  bears  his  name  and 
figure.  All  aimed  their  arrows  at  once,  and  the  fearful 
bird,  transfixed  with  twenty  arrows,  fell  dead  near  the 
feet  of  the  brave  chief  Outaga.  And  to  this  day,  in  the 
dark  cavern  near  the  rock  Piasa,  are  heaped  the  bones 
of  many  thousand  Indians,  whose  flesh  was  food  for 
the  insatiable  maw  of  this  winged  monster." 

I  learned  from  Mr.  J.  W.  Wise,  of  Alton,  that  this 
rock  with  the  painting  was  at  the  upper  end  of  Alton, 
and  it  was  quarried  down  for  lime-kilns  by  a  stone- 
mason from  St.  Louis,  in  1866  and  1867.  He  added, 


26  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

that  "  there  was  but  one  figure,  a  dragon  ;  it  was  painted 
at  the  distance  of  about  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  below  the 
top  of  the  cliff,  about  sixty  feet  above  the  base,  and  the 
base  was  some  twenty  feet  above  ordinary  high  water." 
Mr.  Henry  Le  Sieur,  a  native  of  Portage  des  Sioux,  which 
is  eight  miles  above  Alton,  thus  writes,  December  13, 
1873  :  "  My  impression  was  that  the  figure  represented 
a  griffin  or  dragon.  Mr.  Wise  says  that  there  was  but 
one  figure,  although  some  say  that  there  was  a  small 
figure  in  front  of  the  large  one  ;  I  will  add  to  his  de- 
scription, that  it  was  a  pale  red.  It  was  exposed  to 
the  storms  coming  from  the  south-west,  which  must 
have  gradually  washed  off  the  paint ;  besides,  the  face 
of  the  rock  was  much  marked  with  bullets.  I  have 
heard  my  father,  who  often  passed  it  in  company  with 
fleets  of  Indian  canoes,  say  that  the  Indians  invariably 
discharged  all  their  guns  at  it  when  they  passed.  That 
was  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century.  None  of  them 
at  that  time  had  any  knowledge  as  to  when  it  had  been 
made.  They  said  it  was  a  Manitou,  and  they  seemed 
to  have  a  dread  of  it,  as  inimical  to  the  Indian,  vengeful, 
and  threatening  evil." 

This  was,  doubtless,  the  very  painting  seen  by  Mar- 
quette  in  1673  :  an  enduring  proof  of  his  truthfulness, 
and  that  it  was  unjustly  impugned  by  some  of  the  early 
explorers,  who  were  over-anxious  to  win  renown. 


CHAPTER     III. 

THEY  TAKE  POSSESSION  OF  THEIR  FARM  — SCHOOL 
FOR  INDIAN  BOYS  BEGUN  —  PORTAGE  DES  SIOUX 
AND  ST.  CHARLES  — THEY  ARE  INVITED  BY  BISHOP 
ROSATI  TO  OPEN  A  COLLEGE  IN  ST.  LOUIS,  WHICH 
THEY  CONSENT  TO  UNDERTAKE. 

FATHER  VAN  QUICKENBORNE  and  companions  took  pos- 
session of  their  farm  in  June,  1823,  Mr.  O'Neil,  mag- 
istrate of  Florissant,  having  moved  from  it  for  the 
purpose,  kindly  ceding  his  right  to  retain  it  longer,  al- 
though his  lease  had  not  expired.  The  land  lying  north- 
west of  Florissant  slopes  gently  upward  from  Cold 
Water  Creek,  near  the  village,  till  it  reaches  the  highest 
table  of  the  bluffs  overlooking  the  Missouri  River,  two 
and  a  half  miles  away.  Commencing  at  the  upland,  a 
mile  from  the  river,  and  declining  south-east  towards 
St.  Louis,  lay  the  pretty  little  farm  now  to  be  their 
home,  and  on  one  of  the  highest  and  most  lovely  spots 
of  all  of  this  scene  of  rich  prairie  and  rolling  woodland 
stood  the  humble  cabin  which  was  to  shelter  them.  The 
prospect  from  this  elevated  position  is  both  extensive 
and  beautiful,  reaching  far  over  the  charming  valley  in 
which  the  village  is  embosomed,  to  the  town  of  St. 
Charles,  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri,  seven  miles  dis- 
tant, and  to  the  white  line  of  rolling  cliffs,  crowned  with 
trees,  that  stretch  upward  from  Alton  along  the  Missis- 
sippi River.  Throughout  this  entire  Florissant  Valley 

(27) 


28  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

the  soil  is  of  inexhaustible  richness,  rewarding  even 
moderate  care  and  industry  with  plentiful  crops  of  corn, 
wheat,  timothy,  and  every  variety  of  garden  vegetables 
suited  to  the  climate ;  moreover,  it  is  not  only  a  pleas- 
ant district  to  live  in,  but  it  is  very  healthy,  as  the  nu- 
merous instances  of  longevity  among  the  people  there 
spending  their  long  lives  conclusively  show. 

The  dwelling  given  up  to  them  by 'Squire  O'Neilwas 
a  log  cabin  containing  one  room,  which  was  sixteen  by 
eighteen  feet  in  dimensions ;  and  over  it  was  a  loft,  but 
not  high  enough  for  a  man  to  stand  erect  in  it,  except 
when  directly  under  the  comb  of  the  roof.  This  poorly 
lighted  and  ill-ventilated l  loft,  or  garret,  was  made  the 
dormitory  of  the  seven  novices,  their  beds  consisting  of 
pallets  spread  upon  the  floor.  The  room  below  was 
divided  into  two  by  a  curtain,  one  part  being  used  as  a 
chapel,  and  the  other  serving  as  bedroom  for  Fathers 
Van  Quickenborne  and  Timmermans.  This  main  room 
of  the  cabin  had  a  door  on  the  south-east  side,  or  front ; 
a  large  window  on  the  north-west  side,  without  sash  or 
glass,  but  closed  with  a  heavy  board  shutter ;  on  the 
south-west  side  it  had  a  small  window,  with  a  few  panes 
of  glass ;  and  finally,  on  the  north-  east  side  was  a  notable 
chimney,  with  a  fireplace  having  a  capacity  for  logs  of 
eight  feet  in  length.  At  the  distance  of  about  eighty 
feet  to  the  north-east  of  this  dwelling  were  two  smaller 
cabins,  some  eight  feet  apart,  one  of  which  was  made  to 
serve  both  as  study-hall  for  the  novices,  and  as  common 
dining-room  for  the  community ;  the  other  was  used  as 
kitchen,  and  for  lodging  the  negroes.  These  rude  struc- 


1  There  was  one  opening,  or  little  window,  which  had  the  appearance, 
when  seen  from  the  outside,  of  a  port-hole. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  2Q 

tures  were  covered  with  rough  boards,  held  in  place  by 
weight  poles ;  the  floors  were  "  puncheons,"  and  the 
doors  were  of  riven  slabs,  and  their  wooden  latches  were 
lifted  with  strings  hanging  outside. 

Such  were  the  log  cabins  of  the  western  pioneer, 
which  were  now  to  be  the  home,  the  novitiate,  the  sem- 
inary of  the  first  Jesuits  who  came  to  Missouri.  All 
these  priests  and  novices  had  been  brought  up  in  plenty 
and  comfort  in  their  native  land,  and  some  of  them  in 
affluence,  with  the  accomplishments  and  refinements  of 
highly  cultivated  society.  They  renounced  all  in  order 
to  become  disciples  of  our  Lord,  and  teach  his  saving 
doctrine  to  the  benighted  savages  roaming  over  the 
prairies  of  the  Far  West ;  and  they  prepared  for  this 
evangelical  work  by  imitating  their  Master's  poverty 
and  humility.  Their  journey  from  Maryland  had  ex- 
hausted their  money,  and  but  for  the  assistance  given 
them  by  the  charitable  Madame  Duchesne,  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  Convent  at  Florissant,  who  furnished  them  food, 
bedding,  and  various  objects  most  necessary  for  the 
household,  their  condition  would  have  been  that  of  ex- 
treme suffering. 

In  front  of  the  house  was  an  orchard  of  good  fruit ; 
beyond  the  orchard  was  a  field  containing  about  thirty 
acres  of  cultivated  land,  and  at  the  distance  of  half  a 
mile  still  further  on  was  a  second  field  of  fertile  land, 
bordering  on  Cold  Water  Creek.  The  portion  of  the 
farm  to  the  rear,  or  north-west  of  the  house,  was  still 
covered  with  primeval  forest,  extending  back  to  the 
Missouri  River,  and  the  rest  of  the  land  was  overrun 
with  hazel  thickets,  interspersed  with  clumps  of  stunted 
oak,  and  here  and  there  with  lawns  or  small  meadows 
of  wild  prairie-grass. 


30  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY 

Father  Van  Quickenborne  saw  at  once  the  necessity 
of  providing  more  ample  house-room.  Accordingly,  it 
was  resolved  that  a  second  story  should  be  added  to 
the  principal  cabin,  the  entire  house  should  be  sur- 
rounded by  a  gallery,  the  second  story  of  which  could 
partly  be  made  into  rooms,  and  the  work  of  building- 
was  to  be  done  by  themselves.  It  was  determined  also 
that  a  two-story  wing  to  the  house,  thus  enlarged,  should 
be  erected ;  and  they  began  to  dig  a  cellar  for  this  wing 
on  July  31,  1823.  As  the  3ist  of  July,  feast  of  St. 
Ignatius,  is  observed  with  special  religious  solemnity  by 
the  Jesuit  Society,  they  chose  that  festival  for  the  cere- 
mony of  religiously  inaugurating  their  work,  in  order 
to  place  it  under  the  auspices  of  their  holy  founder. 
The  day  was  begun  with  a  High  Mass  in  the  parish 
church  at  Florissant,  which  was  well  filled  with  people ; 
and  during  the  Mass,  or  after  the  gospel,  an  eloquent 
panegyric  of  St.  Ignatius  was  preached  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Niel,  of  the  college  in  St.  Louis,  who  had  come  out  to 
Florissant  for  that  purpose  on  the  preceding  day.  When 
divine  service  was  finished,  the  Jesuits,  accompanied  by 
Fathers  Niel  and  Lacroix,  adjourned  to  the  new  home 
at  the  farm,  where  they  sat  down  to  a  plentiful  dinner, 
furnished  mainly  by  kind  Madame  Duchesne,  their  refec- 
tory being  for  that  occasion  the  barn,  their  only  spa- 
cious room.  In  the  afternoon,  each  person  took  one 
shovelful  of  earth  from  the  spot  where  the  cellar  was 
to  be  commenced  on  the  following  day.  It  was  sub- 
sequently remembered,  to  the  honor  of  Mr.  Van  Assche, 
that  he  was  the  most  skilful  with  the  mattock  and 
shovel,  while  Mr.  De  Smet  excelled  all  others  with  the 
axe  in  felling  trees  and  chopping  logs  in  the  woods. 

They  went  to  an  island  in  the  Missouri  River,  a  short 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.   LOUIS    UNIVERSITY,  3! 

distance  above  the  Charbonniere,1  to  cut  the  timber  for 
their  new  house  and  for  an  additional  story  to  the  old 
one.  It  was  often  mentioned  afterwards,  and  even  a  half 
century  later,  by  Father  Van  Assche  and  others  then  sur- 
viving, as  a  remarkable  circumstance,  that  on  the  very 
night  after  they  had  hauled  away  the  last  load  of  timber 
needed  for  their  buildings,  this  island  was  totally  washed 
away  by  the  current  of  the  Missouri,  not  a  vestige  of 
it  being  left.2  It  is  well  known  that  this  wonderful  river, 
especially  when  swollen  with  the  waters  of  the  "  moun- 
tain rise,"  often  makes  great  encroachments  on  its  banks, 
forms  new  islands,  and  sweeps  away  old  ones  with  sur- 
prising suddenness. 

Shortly  after  the  little  community  was  settled  at  their 
farm-house,  the  Rev.  Charles  De  Lacroix  made  over  to 
Father  Van  Quickenborne  the  new  church  of  Florissant, 
and  he  departed  for  Louisiana ;  Father  Van  Quicken- 
borne  was,  at  the  same  time,  made  spiritual  director  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  community  in  the  village.  The  cor- 
ner-stone3 of  the  church  at  Florissant  had  been  laid  by 
Father  De  Lacroix,  on  February  19,  1821,  and  the  stone 


1  The  Charbonniere  is  a  bluff  on  the  Missouri  River,  some  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  or  three  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  it  is  little  more  than 
a  mile  from  the  novitiate.     It  is  so  called  from  the  fact  that  a  stratum  of 
stone-coal  underlies  it;  but  as  this  layer  of  coal  is  nearly  on  a  level  with 
the  surface   of  the  water  in  the  river,  and  is  also  of  inferior  quality,  it 
has  been  little  worked. 

2  Just  above  the  Charbonniere  there  is  visible,  in  low  water,  a  bed  of 
reddish  stone,  which  extends  far  out  into  the  river.     On  this  rock,    it 
would  seem,  the  island  referred  to  may  have  been  seated,  or,  at  least, 
lodged  against  it. 

3  The  corner-stone  of  a  brick  church  had  been  laid  in  St.  Louis  on 
October  18,  1818,  by  Bishop  Dubourg,  to  replace  the  old  post  or  log 
church.     The   architect  was    Mr.   Gabriel   Paul;   the   carpenter,    Hugh 
O'Neil,  senior.     It  was  never  plastered  nor  ceiled. 


32  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

for  the  purpose  was  presented  by  Madame  Duchesne ; 
it  contained  the  following  record,  but  it  was  expressed 
in  the  Latin  language:  "On  this  February  19,  A.  D. 
1821,  I,  Charles  De  Lacroix,  by  permission  of  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Valentine  Louis  William  Dubourg,  laid 
the  corner-stone  of  this  church,  dedicated  to  the  Sacred 
Heart  of  Jesus,  under  the  invocation  of  St.  Ferdinand 
and  St.  Francis  Regis ;  Madame  Duchesne,  superioress, 
having  donated  the  said  corner-stone,  Madame  Octavia 
Berthold  and  Madame  Eugenia  Aude  being  present, 
as  also  the  pupils,  and  many  persons  from  the  village." 

This  church  had  not  been  finished  in  1823;  it  was 
finally  dedicated  by  Bishop  Rosati,  on  September  5, 
1832.  St.  Charles1  congregation  and  that  of  Portage 
des  Sioux  had  already  been  committed  to  the  care  of 
Father  Timmermans  before  the  departure  of  Father  De 
Lacroix  from  Florissant.  The  first  entry  made  by 
Father  Timmermans  at  Portage  des  Sioux  was  dated 
June  13,  1823;  on  that  day  he  baptized  Francois  Rive, 
and  on  the  same  day  he  joined  in  wedlock  John  C. 
Evans  and  Theresa  Saucier.  The  first  record  at  St. 
Charles  was  that  of  a  funeral,  on  July  14,  1823;  the 
first  baptism,  that  of  William  Manley,  July  29,  1823. 

Mr.  Francis  Maillet  and  Brother  Charles  Strahan  sepa- 

1  There  is  a  tradition  that  the  now  extinct  tribe  of  Indians  named 
Missouri  formerly  had  their  chief  village  where  the  town  of  St.  Charles 
is  at  present.  The  Missouris,  having  learned  that  the  Sioux  were  to 
attack  them,  formed  an  ambuscade  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  River, 
expecting  their  enemies  to  pass  that  point.  The  Sioux  crossed  the  Mis- 
sissippi at  the  place  now  called  Portage  des  Sioux;  then  passing  over 
the  portage,  or  narrow  neck  of  land  between  the  two  rivers,  destroyed 
the  village  of  the  Missouris  ;  thence  going  down  the  river,  they  attacked 
the  ambuscade,  and  on  this  occasion  the  fierce  Sioux  nearly  exterminated 
the  entire  race  of  Missouris. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  33 

rated  from  the  Jesuit  Society  shortly  after  their  arrival  in 
Missouri,  and  entered  a  different  walk  in  life  ;  discour- 
aged, it  may  be,  by  the  hardships  and  the  extreme  pov- 
erty endured  at  the  new  St.  Stanislaus  Novitiate,  near 
Florissant.1  Father  Timmermans  died  on  June  1st  of 
the  following  year,  or  in  1824  ;  and  thus  the  number  in 
the  community  was  reduced  to  nine  members.  In 
1825,  Father  De  Theux  and  Brother  O'Connor,  from 
Maryland,  were  added  to  the  little  household ;  the 
former  having  been  sent  to  teach  theology  and  give  as- 
sistance to  Father  Van  Quickenborne  in  various  priestly 
offices.  In  1827,  James  A.  Yates  and  George  Miles, 
both  natives  of  Kentucky,  were  admitted  as  novices,  and 
they  were  the  first  novices  received  in  the  new  mission. 
No  scholastic  novice  there  entered  till  after  the  separa- 
tion of  the  Missouri  mission  from  the  province  of  Mary- 
land, which  took  place,  by  a  decree  of  the  General, 
Father  Roothaan,  dated  September  25,  1830,  when  the 
Missouri  mission  was  made  subject  immediately  to  the 
General  of  the  Jesuit  Society.  This  new  arrangement 
was  not  actually  perfected,  however,  till  the  beginning 
of  1831,  or  on  February  24th  of  that  year,  when  Father 
De  Theux  was  installed  superior  of  the  Western  mis- 
sion. 

It  was  manifest  that  before  any  important  work  could 
be  undertaken  among  the  Indian  tribes,  it  was  neces- 
sary first  to  train  and  educate  the  young  men,  now  six 
in  number,  for  the  priesthood.  Yet  Father  Van  Quick- 
enborne was  of  opinion  that,  while  pursuing  their  studies, 
the  young  men  could,  not  only  without  injury,  but 


1  In  the  immediate  neighborhood  this  place  still  retains  its   original 
name,   "The  Priests'  Farm." 


3 


34  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

even  with  some  advantage  to  themselves,  devote  a  por- 
tion of  their  time  to  teaching  Indian  boys;  and  since 
the  United  States  government  had  agreed  to  allow  a 
compensation  in  money  for  each  Indian  boy  boarded 
and  taught,  this  occupation  would,  at  the  same  time, 
increase  their  scanty  means  of  living.  Accordingly, 
two  Indian  boys,  Aloways,  were  received  from  St.  Louis 
in  1824;  and  a  little  later,  three  others  from  the  wild 
tribes  in  Missouri  were  placed  under  their  charge  by  the 
superintendent  of  those  tribes.  In  order  to  provide  for 
a  still  greater  number,  Father  Van  Quickenborne  erected 
a  two-story  frame  building,  about  forty  by  thirty  feet 
ii  dimensions,  for  the  exclusive  use  of  Indian  boys. 
An  arrangement  was  also  made  with  the  Ladies  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  in  Florissant,  to  take  charge  of  Indian 
girls;  and  thus,  in  the  year  1825,  two  schools  were 
opened  for  the  reception  of  Indian  children,  wherein  they 
might  learn  the  principles  and  the  manners  of  civilized 
and  Christian  life.  In  1827  there  were  fourteen  Indian 
children  at  the  seminary  for  boys  ;  and  there  were  about 
an  equal  number  of  Indian  girls  with  the  Ladies  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  at  Florissant.  The  majority  of  these  chil- 
dren were  half-breeds,  and  they  belonged  to  the  Chero- 
kee tribe,  bands  of  which  still  remained  around  Portage 
des  Sioux  and  St.  Charles.1 

Messrs.  J.  B.  Smedts  and  P.  J.  Verhaegen  were  raised 
to  the  priesthood  near  the  beginning  of  1825,  at  the 
Seminary  of  the  Barrens,  in  Perry  County,  Missouri,  by 
Bishop  Rosati;  and  in  September,  1827,  Messrs.  P.  J. 

1  Kenry  Schoolcraft,  on  his  way  to  Chicago,  in  1821,  where  Gov. 
Cass  was  to  meet  the  Pottuwatomie  and  Ottawa  Indians  in  council,  to 
form  a  "treaty"  with  them,  found  a  large  number  of  the  Fox  Indians 
encamped  near  Portage  des  Sioux,  on  August  4,  1821. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  35 

De  Smet,  J.  F.  Van  Assche,  J.  A.  Elet,  and  F.  L.  Ver- 
reydt  were  ordained  priests  by  the  same  prelate,  in  the 
church  at  Florissant.  As  there  were  now  eight  priests 
at  St.  Stanislaus  Novitiate,  it  was  decided  that  Fathers 
Verreydt  and  Smedts  should  reside  at  St.  Charles, 
where  a  new  stone  church,  begun  in  1825,  had  just  been 
completed ;  and  from  this  residence  they  were  to  at- 
tend Portage  des  Sioux,  Hancock  Prairie,  Dardenne, 
and  other  small  stations.  During  this  year,  1 827,  Father 
Van  Quickenborne  went  on  his  first  missionaiy  excur- 
sion to  the  Osage  tribe  of  Indians,  beyond  the  borders 
of  Missouri,  and  at  an  estimated  distance  of  five  hun- 
dred miles  from  Florissant.  He  subsequently  paid  two 
other  visits  to  this  tribe,  —  one  in  1829,  and  the  other  in 
1830,  —  with  a  view  of  starting  schools  and  a  missionary 
residence  among  them.  It  was  not  till  the  spring  of 
1847,  however,  that  the  Jesuits  actually  began  to  reside 
among  the  Osage  Indians.  They  then  founded  a  school 
for  Indian  boys,  and  one  for  the  girls,  of  which  the 
Sisters  of  Loretto  in  Kentucky  took  charge.  This  mis- 
sion was  established  by  Rev.  John  Schoenmakers  and 
Rev.  John  Bax,  with  three  lay  brothers,  first  arriving 
at  the  spot  on  April  29,  1847. 

In  the  year  1827  the  Provincial  of  Maryland,  Father 
Dzierozynski,  made  an  official  visit  to  the  house  near 
Florissant ;  he  was  most  favorably  impressed  with  the 
prospect  of  the  "  Indian  Seminary,"  and  the  similar 
school  for  girls  conducted  by  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  in  Florissant,  and  he  commended  both  of  them 
highly  to  Father  Van  Quickenborne,  and  in  his  letter 
to  the  General  of  the  Society,  Father  Fortis.  A  few 
of  the  most  respectable  white  families  of  St.  Louis,  as 


36  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

well  as  some  of  other  localities,  sent  their  sons  to  the 
"Indian  Seminary"  in  1828,  for  want  of  any  better 
school  accommodations  at  that  period.  But  both  these 
schools  for  Indian  children  had  already  reached  the 
acme  of  their  prosperity.  Despite  all  their  persevering 
efforts  to  make  these  Indian  schools  a  success,  there 
were  never  more  than  fourteen  children  in  either  of 
them  at  one  time.  As  they  rather  declined  than  im- 
proved after  the  year  1828,  the  one  for  boys  was  finally 
closed  for  good  in  the  year  1830. 

Though  the  special  purpose  of  Father  Van  Quicken- 
borne  and  companions  in  coming  to  Missouri  had  been 
to  spend  their  lives  in  the  work  of  civilizing  and  Chris- 
tianizing the  Indian  tribes  dwelling  within  the  Territory, 
under  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  Bishop  Dubourg,  yet 
a  few  years  sufficed  to  convince  them  that  no  great  or 
permanent  results  could  ever  be  accomplished  among 
the  indolent,  wandering,  and  indocile  aborigines  of  the 
woods  and  prairie,  which  would  at  all  compensate  for 
sacrificing  all  their  energies  and  resources  in  exclusive 
attention  to  the  savages.  They  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion, therefore,  that  more  solid  and  lasting  good  might 
be  done  among  the  white  population  than  with  the 
wellnigh  indomitable  red  man.  It  was  then  they  first 
began  to  consider  the  feasibility  of  establishing  a 
college  in  St.  Louis  for  higher  education;  and  this 
project  was  still  more  pressed  on  their  attention  after 
the  "  St.  Louis  College,"  conducted  by  secular  priests, 
had  been  altogether  discontinued,  in  the  summer  of 
1826.  It  was  not  then,  nor  was  it  subsequently,  their 
intention  to  give  up  their  original  design  of  having 
schools  and  missions  among  the  Indians ;  but  they  now 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  37 

came  to  the  conclusion  that  works  of  zeal  among  the 
white  population  might  be  even  advantageously  com- 
prehended within  the  scope  of  their  aims. 

After  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  had  arranged 
to  commence  an  academy  in  St.  Louis,  where  they  first 
went  to  reside  on  May  2,  1827,  a  desire  was  generally 
expressed  among  the  people  of  the  city,  and  throughout 
the  State  of  Missouri,  that  the  Jesuit  Fathers  should 
likewise  start  a  college  in  St.  Louis  for  the  education  of 
young  men.  Many  urged  that  the  fathers  should  not 
confine  their  efforts  for  the  welfare  of  -religion  and 
sound  education  to  the  Indians,  for  whom  little  genuine 
and  enduring  good  was  at  all  likely  to  be  effected. 
Bishop  Rosati  also  concurred  in  this  view  of  the  mat- 
ter, and  insisted  on  the  expediency  of  their  beginning  a 
college  in  St.  Louis,  where,  he  assured  them,  an  institu- 
tion of  the  kind  was  much  needed,  and,  moreover,  the 
undertaking  was  sure  to  prove  successful. 

These  various  considerations  definitively  and  finally 
determined  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  in  1828,  to  open  a  col- 
lege in  St.  Louis  so  soon  as  necessary  preparations  for 
such  a  work  could  be  completed.  The  beneficent  gen- 
tleman, John  Mullanphy,  who  had  donated  twenty-five 
acres  of  land  in  the  southern  limits  of  St.  Louis  to  the 
Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  for  an  academy,  to  which 
he  annexed  the  condition  that  they  should  support  per- 
petually twenty  orphan  girls,  made  also  an  offer  of  de- 
sirable property  in  St.  Louis  to  Father  Van  Quicken- 
borne  for  a  college,  and  the  proposed  gift  was  coupled 
with  a  like  condition ;  but  Father  Van  Quickenborne 
was  not  willing  to  receive  property,  even  as  a  donation, 
that  was  subject  to  any  condition  which  would  bind  his 
successors  in  office,  and  which  it  might  afterwards  be- 


38  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

come  difficult  or  odious  to  fulfil  in  a  college  designed 
for  higher  education. 

The  bishop  of  the  diocese  made  over  to  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  a  lot  on  Ninth  Street  and  Christy  Avenue, 
which  had  been  given  by  Jeremiah  Conners,  then  de- 
ceased, towards  founding  a  college  in  St.  Louis.  The 
remaining  portion  of  the  square  west  of  Ninth  Street, 
bounded  by  Washington  Avenue  and  Christy  Avenue, 
together  with  about  two-thirds  of  the  next  square  im- 
mediately west,  between  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Streets, 
was  subsequently  purchased  for  the  college ;  the  entire 
premises  having  a  front  on  Washington  Avenue  of  four 
hundred  and  seventy-five  feet. 

The  only  impediment  to  their  beginning  the  proposed 
college  in  St.  Louis  at  this  time  was  the  smallness  of 
their  number;  for,  in  the  year  1828,  there  were  belong- 
ing to  the  Jesuit  Mission  of  Missouri  only  eight  priests 
and  six  lay  brothers,  of  whom  three  were  novices.1 
Two  of  the  priests  were  then  residing  at  St.  Charles, 
and  the  services  of  the  remaining  ones  were  needed  for 
the  seminary  near  Florissant,  the  congregation  in  the 
village  with  its  annexed  stations,  and  for  missionary  ex- 
cursions to  the  Indian  tribes,  for  whose  spiritual  welfare 
they  were  very  desirous  to  provide,  since  it  was  princi- 
pally with  a  view  to  such  employment  they  had  come 
to  the  West.  But  despite  all  discouraging  circum- 
stances and  difficulties  in  the  way  of  their  new  under- 
taking to  promote  the  interests  of  education,  they  finally 


1  In  the  year  1832  the  number  of  members  had  increased  to  nineteen, 
of  whom  eleven  were  priests,  one  was  a  scholastic,  and  seven  were  lay 
brothers.  In  1834  there  were  twenty-four  members, — twelve  priests, 
six  scholastics,  and  six  lay  brothers,  —  James  Yates,  having  died  Febru- 
ary I,  1833. 


>     OF  THE    *^V 

NIVERSITY  1 

OF  J 

^  i —         —  ~-^^ 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  39 

determined  to  begin  the  erection  of  a  building  for  the 
college.  The  foundation  was  commenced,  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1828,  of  a  building  fifty  feet  in  length  by  forty 
feet  in  width,  and  three  stories  high,  besides  a  basement 
and  attic  ;  it  fronted  south,  towards  the  public  road  lead- 
ing out  of  the  town  to  St.  Charles.  The  site  of  the  col- 
lege was  then  surrounded  by  weedy  ponds,  groves  of 
sorry  oak,  and  suburban  farms ;  the  city  at  that  time 
scarcely  extending  beyond  Third  Street,  the  "  Rue  des 
Granges,"  or  the  Barn  Street  of  primitive  days. 

During  the  session  of  the  "Indian  Seminary"  near 
Florissant,  1828-29,  there  were  about  fifteen  white  boys, 
sons  of  respectable  parents  in  St.  Louis,  and  some  from 
other  localities,  who  were  placed  there  to  be  educated. 
The  register  of  the  St.  Louis  University  includes  the 
names  of  the  students  who  entered  the  seminary  at 
Florissant,  as  they  were  transferred  to  the  college  in 
St.  Louis,  when  it  was  ready  for  the  reception  of  stu- 
dents, in  1829.  The  first  name  was  recorded  June  12, 
1828,  and  it  was  "Charles  P.  Chouteau,  aged  eight 
years."  The  records  begun  at  the  "  Indian  Seminary" 
also  contain  the  names,  Francis  Cabanne,  Julius  Ca- 
banne, Du  Thil  Cabanne,  John  Shannon,  William  Boil- 
vin,  Bryan  Mullanphy,  Francis  Bosseron,  Julius  Clark, 
Howard  Christy,  Alexander  La  Force  Papin,  Edmond 
Paul,  Edward  Chouteau,  Thomas  Forsyth,  and  Paul  A. 
F.  Du  Bouffay. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

FROM  THE  YEAR  1829  TO  THE  YEAR  1836  —  ORGANIZA- 
TION OF  THE  COLLEGE  IN  ST.  LOUIS  —  ITS  RAPID 
GROWTH  — NEED  OF  COMPETENT  TEACHERS,  ES- 
PECIALLY FOR  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE  —  HELP 
SENT  FROM  MARYLAND  GIVES  A  NEW  IMPETUS  — 
APPLICATION  TO  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  MIS- 
SOURI FOR  A  CHARTER  OF  INCORPORATION. 

THE  building  was  completed  sufficiently  for  use,  and 
all  preparations  were  perfected  in  time  to  organize 
classes  in  the  new  college  on  Monday,  November  2, 
1829. 

Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen  was  chosen  to  be  the  first 
"president  of  the  St.  Louis  College ;"  and  among  the 
staff  of  professors  and  officers  appointed  to  aid  him  in 
the  new  enterprise  were  Rev.  P.  J.  De  Smet,  who  be- 
came so  illustrious  in  succeeding  years  as  a  missionary 
among  the  Indians  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  Rev. 
J.  A.  Elet,  whose  affability  and  pleasing  manners  made 
his  presence  always  agreeable  to  the  young  men  under 
his  care.  As  Fathers  Verreydt  and  Smedts  were  then 
residing  at  St.  Charles,  and  Father  Van  Assche  was  in 
charge  of  the  congregation  at  Florissant,1  only  three  of 

1  The  first  baptism  there  registered  by  Father  Van  Assche  was  en- 
tered on  April  19,  1829.  He  resided  at  the  novitiate,  where  Father  De 
Theux  was  then  superior;  he  walked  to  the  village  on  Sundays,  to 
say  Mass  and  do  other  parochial  duties,  and  then  walked  home  to 

(40) 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  4! 

the  young  priests  could  be  spared  for  duty  in  the  col- 
lege. Brother  James  Yates  taught  some  rudimentary 
classes,  and  at  a  later  date  Rev.  Peter  Walsh,  then  a 
novice,  taught  some  of  the  higher  branches.  During 
the  first  few  years  after  the  college  was  opened,  several 
extra  teachers  were  engaged  to  take  charge  of  the 
classes  in  English  and  mathematics  ;  they  were  Thomas 
B.  Taylor,  John  Servary,  Benjamin  Eaton,  Bartholomew 
McGowan,  and  Jeremiah  Langton. 

On  the  first  day  there  entered  ten  boarders  and  thirty 
externs,  or  day-scholars ;  within  a  few  weeks  the  number 
of  boarders  was  increased  to  thirty,  and  the  number  of 
day-scholars  enrolled  was  one  hundred  and  twenty  ;  or, 
there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils  in  all,  —  a  num- 
ber rather  more  than  sufficient  for  their  limited  room.1 
After  this  time  there  was  little  variation  in  the  total 
number  of  students  for  two  years,  or  till  the  year  1831. 
Meanwhile  it  had  become  manifest  to  all  that  ample 
room  should  be  provided,  and  it  was  also  apparent  to 
the  president  and  his  advisers  that  additional  strength 
was  required  in  the  faculty  of  teachers.  Before  the  end 
of  1831  it  was  decided  to  erect  an  additional  house, 
40x40,  at  the  east  end  of  the  main  building  already  oc- 
cupied, and  work  was  begun  on  this  wing  early  in  the 
year  1832.  The  new  house  was  ready  for  occupancy 
at  the  beginning  of  the  next  summer. 


breakfast,  returning  on  foot  to  the  village  for  vespers  in  the  evening. 
This  practice  was  changed  in  1832  by  Father  Kenny,  visitor,  and  thence- 
forth Father  Van  Assche  resided  at  Florissant. 

1  Mr.  Peter  Poursine,  of  New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  in  a  letter  of  Feb- 
ruary I,  1879,  says,  referring  to  himself :  "  The  writer  was  the  first  student 
from  Louisiana  to  enter  the  St.  Louis  College,  his  arrival  dating  February 
2~,  1830,  at  which  time  the  college  building  was  not  yet  finished,  the 
students  having  to  ascend  to  the  different  stories  by  means  of  ladders." 


42  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

On  October  24,  1831,  Rev.  James  Van  de  Velde 
reached  St.  Louis,  preceded  a  few  days  by  Father  Van 
Lommel  and  Mr.  Van  Sweevelt,  a  scholastic  ;  they  had 
been  sent  from  Maryland  to  assist  in  the  new  college, 
as  professors.1  Father  Van  de  Velde  had  as  compan- 
ions from  Maryland,  Father  McSherry,  Provincial  of 
Maryland,  and  Father  Kenny,  visitor.  Father  Kenny 
was  a  pious  and  sagacious  man,  and  one  remarkable  for 
his  goodness  and  charity  to  all  persons ;  he  was  sent  by 
the  General  of  the  Society  to  inspect  the  affairs  of  the 
Western  mission,  and  give  counsel  and  direction  in  per- 
fecting the  organization  of  its  different  establishments, 
then  growing  rapidly  in  importance  and  influence. 

Father  Van  de  Velde  soon  became  prominent  in  St. 
Louis  as  a  pulpit  orator,  and  as  a  highly  cultivated 
scholar.  At  the  beginning  of  1832  he  was  deputed  to 
visit  Louisiana,  with  a  view  of  making  the  institution 
more  generally  known,  especially  in  that  State,  and 
in  the  towns  and  cities  along  the  Mississippi.  His 
journey  through  Louisiana  and  Mississippi  produced 
the  effect  intended ;  for  during  the  following  spring, 
and  before  the  close  of  the  session,  in  July,  1832,  there 
were  registered  twenty-one  additional  boarders  from 
Louisiana  alone,  while  the  number  of  boarders  at  the 
beginning  of  the  next  session,  on  September  7,  1832, 
had  augmented  far  beyond  all  anticipation.  The  num- 
ber of  day-scholars  was  found  to  be  diminished,  in 
comparison  with  what  it  had  been  at  the  opening  of 
the  previous  session ;  this  difference  arising,  no  doubt, 
mainly  from  the  circumstance  that  other  good  schools 
were  established  in  St.  Louis  during  that  year,  but  in 


1  After  the  accession  of  this  reinforcement  there  were  at  the  college,  in 
all,  ten  members  of  the  Jesuit  Society. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  43 

part,  also,  from  the  fact  that  the  classes  and  collegiate 
exercises  were  arranged  exclusively  with  a  view  to  the 
boarders. 

After  the  organization  of  classes  for  the  session  begin- 
ning September,  1832,  the  faculty  was  convinced  that 
the  "  St.  Louis  College  "  supplied  a  want  in  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  that  its  permanent  success  as  an 
institution  was  reasonably  assured.  Encouraged  by  this 
conviction,  the  president  and  faculty  decided  to  petition 
the  General  Assembly  of  Missouri  for  a  charter,  making 
the  institution  a  perpetual  corporation,  and  empowering 
it  to  confer  the  usual  collegiate  honors  and  degrees.  In 
order  to  give  it  capability  of  the  greatest  usefulness  in 
promoting  higher  education,  it  was  deemed  expedient 
by  the  president  and  faculty  of  the  St.  Louis  College, 
and  it  was  also  the  counsel  of  their  friends,  to  secure,  if 
practicable,  a  university  charter,  which  would  enable 
them  to  combine  under  it  the  faculties  of  law,  medi- 
cine, and  theology,  with  the  literary  and  scientific  de- 
partments, if  at  some  future  day  so  comprehensive  a 
system  of  studies  should  be  found  advantageous. 

The  Legislature  of  the  State,  after  maturely  deliber- 
ating over  each  provision,  finally  granted  the  charter, 
substantially  as  in  the  petition  of  the  faculty,  by  a 
special  act  of  that  body,  signed  by  the  governor  of  the 
State,  on  December  28  ,1832.  The  petition  was  signed 
by  P.  J.  Verhaegen,  Theodore  De  Theux,  P.  W.  Walsh, 
C.  F.  Van  Quickenborne,  and  James  Van  deVelde,  and 
they  constituted  the  first  corporation. 

The  charter,  of  St.  Louis  University,1  as  approved  by 
the  State  Legislature,  is  as  follows :  — 

1  Laws  of  Missouri  from  1824  to  1836,  Vol.  II.,  p.  298. 


44  HISTORY   OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

"An  act  to  incorporate  the  St.  Louis  University. 

"  Whereas  it  is  represented  to  the  General  Assembly 
that  a  literary  institution,  called  the  St.  Louis  College, 
has  for  several  years  past  been  in  successful  operation 
near  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  sustained  and  conducted  by 
the  voluntary  association  and  private  resources  of  indi- 
viduals, without  the  aid  of  government :  And  whereas 
the  president  of  the  said  college,  in  behalf  of  himself 
and  the  other  professors  and  managers  thereof,  has 
solicited  an  act  of  incorporation,  by  the  name  and  style 
of  the  St.  Louis  University:  Now,  in  order  to  encourage 
learning,  to  extend  the  means  of  education,  and  to  give 
dignity,  permanency,  and  usefulness  to  the  said  institu- 
tion, — 

"Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of 
Missouri,  That  P.  J.  Verhaegen,  Theod.  de  Theux,  P. 
W.  Walsh,  C.  F.  Van  Quickenborne,  and  James  Van 
de  Velde,  be  and  they  are  hereby  constituted  and  ap- 
pointed trustees  of  the  said  literary  institution,  by  the 
name  and  style  of  the  St.  Louis  University,  and  by 
that  name  shall  be  a  body  corporate,  shall  have  per- 
petual succession  and  a  common  seal,  may  contract 
and  be  contracted  with,  grant  and  receive,  sue  and 
be  sued,  implead  and  be  impleaded,  in  all  courts  and 
places. 

SEC.  2.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  when  a  vacancy 
shall  happen  in  the  board  of  trustees,  by  death,  resigna- 
tion, removal,  or  otherwise,  the  remaining  trustees,  or  a 
majority  of  them,  shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to 
appoint  a  suitable  person  to  fill  such  vacancy ;  and  may 
at  their  discretion  appoint  an  additional  number  of  trus- 
tees, whenever  in  their  judgments  the  exigencies  of  the 
institution  may  require  such  an  increase  ;  and  all  trustees 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  45 

so  appointed  shall  have  the  same  rights,  powers,  and 
privileges  as  if  they  were  named  in  this  act. 

SEC.  3.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  person  first 
named  herein,  or,  in  case  of  his  absence,  the  next  named, 
shall  give  notice  of  the  time  and  place  of  the  first  meet- 
ing of  the  board  of  trustees ;  and,  on  the  attendance  of  a 
majority  thereof,  they  shall  appoint  a  president,  and 
adopt  such  regulations  for  their  own  government  as  they 
may  deem  expedient. 

SEC.  4.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  board  of  trus- 
tees shall  have  full  power  to  receive,  hold,  manage,  and 
govern  all  the  property  of  the  St.  Louis  University,  real, 
personal,  and  mixed ;  to  appoint  all  such  officers  and 
servants  as  they  shall  judge  convenient  and  useful,  and 
to  displace  the  same  ;  to  remove  a  trustee  for  any  cause 
which  they  may  deem  sufficient,  two-thirds  of  the  whole 
number  concurring;  to  define  the  qualifications  of  a 
trustee;  to  enact  and  enforce  all  such  statutes  and  ordi- 
nances as  they  shall  judge  convenient  and  useful,  as  well 
for  the  better  management  of  the  revenues  and  pro- 
prietory  interest  of  the  university  as  for  the  advance- 
ment of  learning,  so  that  the  same  shall  not  be  repugnant 
to  the  la\vs  of  the  land  nor  injurious  to  the  rights  of 
conscience;  to  distinguish  merit  by  such  literary  honors 
and  rewards  as  they  may  judge  proper;  and  generally 
to  have  and  enjoy  all  the  powers,  rights,  and  privileges 
usually  exercised  by  literary  institutions  of  the  same 
rank. 

SEC.  5.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  a  majority  of  the 
whole  number  of  trustees  for  the  time  being  shall  be  a 
quorum,  and  be  capable  of  exercising  all  the  powers 
and  transacting  all  the  business  of  the  board. 

SEC.  6.  Be  it  further  enacted,   That  the   said  board 


46  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY 

of  trustees  shall  keep  a  fair  record  of  all  its  corporate 
acts,  and  shall  lay  a  copy  thereof  before  the  General 
Assembly,  or  either  house  thereof,  whenever  required 
so  to  do.  And  the  General  Assembly  reserves  to  itself 
the  right  and  power  to  alter  or  repeal  this  charter 
whenever  it  shall  be  of  opinion  that  the  said  university 
has  failed  to  accomplish  the  beneficent  purposes  for 
which  it  was  created. 

"  This  act  shall  take  effect  and  be  in  force  from  and 
after  the  passage  thereof. 

"Approved  December  28th,  1832." 

"  State  of  Missouri. 

"  I  certify  that  the  foregoing  is  a  correct  copy  of  the 
original  roll  now  on  file  in  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
State. 

"  In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 
and  affixed  my  official  seal,  at  the  City  of  Jefferson,  the 
1 8th  of  Jan.,  A.  D.  1833. 
i  — ,  [Signed]    "JOHN  C.  EDWARDS, 

"  Secretary  of  State" 

The  following  amendment  was  made  to  this  act  of 
incorporation  by  the  Legislature  of  Missouri,  in  the 
year  1851  :  — 

"An  act  amendatory  of 'An  act  to  incorporate  the  St. 
Louis  University,'  approved  December  28,  1832. 

"Be  it  enacted  by  t/ie  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of 
Missouri,  as  follows  :  — 

"SEC.  I.  That  the  said  'St.  Louis  University*  shall 
be  in  law  capable  of  holding,  purchasing,  and  conveying 
any  estate,  real,  personal,  or  mixed,  for  the  use  of  the 
said  corporation  for  educational  purposes ;  and  shall 


HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  4/ 

hold,  use,  and  enjoy,  in  its  corporate  capacity,  all  the 
property,  real,  personal,  or  mixed,  which  the  said  uni- 
versity or  its  trustees  now  have,  or  may  hereafter 
acquire,  for  the  purposes  aforesaid. 

"  SEC.  2.  The  General  Assembly  reserve  the  right  to 
repeal  or  modify  this  act,  and  that  of  which  it  is  amend- 
atory, whenever  it  believes  said  St.  Louis  University 
has  failed  to  accomplish  the  beneficent  purposes  of  its 
institution. 

"This  act  to  take  effect  and  be  in  force  from  and 
after  its  passage.1 

"  Approved  28th  February,  1851." 

The  sections  of  this  amendment  were  drawn  up  by 
A.  J.  P.  Garesche,  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

A  regular  faculty  was  finally  organized  under  the 
charter,  on  April  3,  1833,  w^h  Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen 
as  "  rector  of  the  St.  Louis  University,"  that  being 
the  style  by  which  the  institution  was  incorporated. 
Among  the  people  of  St.  Louis,  however,  the  university 
is  commonly  known,  even  at  the  present  day,  only  by 
its  original  name,  "  The  College." 

It  was  in  1832  that  the  Asiatic  cholera  first  made  its 
appearance  in  some  of  the  Western  States,  as  an  epi- 
demic, signaled  beforehand  by  sporadic  cases.  At  its 
first  visitation  to  St.  Louis,  in  1832,  it  was  of  a  virulent 
type ;  it  was  of  a  milder  character  when  it  returned,  in 
1833.  During  the  period  of  its  greatest  fatality,  the 
boarders  were  removed  from  the  St.  Louis  University 
to  the  novitiate  near  Florissant.  The  ravages  of  this 
terrible  scourge  were  severe  in  St.  Louis ;  it  was  all  the 
more  dreaded,  because  even  the  most  experienced  phy- 


Laws  of  Missouri,  1851,  p.  439. 


48  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

sicians  knew  neither  the  true  pathology  of  this  destroy- 
ing plague  from  the  East  Indies,  nor  any  certain  reme- 
dies for  the  relief  of  those  attacked  by  it.  During  the 
prevalence  of  the  cholera  in  the  city,  the  reverend  gen- 
tlemen of  the  college  were  unremitting  in  their  exer- 
tions to  aid  and  comfort  those  stricken  by  the  strange 
ailment,  visiting  the  houses  of  the  afflicted,  and  afford- 
ing such  relief  and  encouragement  as  they  best  could. 
No  inmate  of  the  college  was  attacked  by  the  disease ; 
a  preservation  for  which  they  offered  public  thanks  to 
God  when  the  pest  had  disappeared. 

During  this  gloomy  period,  when  the  Asiatic  cholera 
was  raging  in  St.  Louis,  one  of  those  remarkable  tor- 
nadoes which  now  and  then  cause  so  much  ruin  in  the 
Western  and  Southern  States  passed  over  a  wide  belt 
of  Missouri,  then  taking  St.  Charles  and  St.  Louis  in 
its  track  towards  the  north-east.  Its  path  through  the 
forests  was  marked  by  an  opening  covered  with  trees 
levelled  to  the  ground,  uprooted  by  the  wind,  or  riven 
to  splinters  by  the  lightning ;  and  across  the  farms  by 
grain-fields  made  bare,  by  houses  unroofed,  or  else 
razed  to  the  foundation,  without  a  vestige  left  to  mark 
the  spot  where  they  had  stood.  This  cyclone  did  much 
havoc  in  St.  Louis  ;  but  though  the  college  building 
rocked  to  the  storm's  terrific  force,  yet  it  suffered  no 
damage,  save  the  loss  of  one  chimney-top.  The 
students,  who  were  overcome  with  fright,  had  hud- 
dled together  into  one  group,  when  Father  Verhaegen, 
whose  first  thought  was  of  them,  hurried  from  his  room 
to  their  presence,  where  his  fatherly  voice  at  once 
calmed  their  fears,  and  emboldened  them  to  await  the 
issue  resolutely. 

Despite  these  and  other  calamities,  making  the  year 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  49 

1833  memorable,  the  Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen  and  the 
trustees  of  the  university  saw  at  the  opening  of  the 
next  session,  in  the  following  September,  that  even  the 
additional  building,  which  had  been  completed  during 
the  year  1832,  did  not  afford  room  sufficient  for  the 
increasing  number  of  their  boarders.  In  order  to  sup- 
ply this  want,  the  western  wing  was  begun  towards  the 
end  of  this  year,  and  it  was  made  ready  for  use  by  the 
beginning  of  the  next  summer,  that  of  1834;  and  this, 
despite  the  inauspicious  circumstance  that  a  portion  of 
its  walls  tumbled  down  just  when  preparations  were 
made  to  put  on  the  roof  timbers,  the  accident  being 
caused  by  defective  masonry.  This  necessitated  an 
entire  renewal  of  the  faulty  walls  from  their  very 
foundation. 

Kind  benefactors  in  St.  Louis  had  contributed  nearly 
five  thousand  dollars  towards  erecting  the  first  build- 
ing.—  a  large  sum  of  money  in  that  day.  In  erecting 
the  additional  buildings  —  the  eastern  wing  and  the 
western  wing  —  they  were  helped  by  the  Association 
for  the  Propagation  of  Faith,  then  recently  established 
at  Lyons,  in  France ;  and  also  by  generous  friends  of 
the  faculty  and  professors  in  Belgium. 

The  records  show  that  in  January,  1834,  there  were 
twenty-four  Jesuits  in  the  Missouri  mission ;  of  these, 
twelve  were  priests,  six  were  scholastics,  and  six  were 
lay  brothers.  Of  the  entire  number,  ten  were  at  the  St. 
Louis  University ;  there  were  at  that  time  fifteen  pro- 
fessors and  tutors  engaged  at  the  university,  and  of 
these,  eight  were  members  of  the  Jesuit  Society,  and 
the  remaining  seven  were  externs  receiving  compensa- 
tion for  their  services. 

During  the  year  1834,  the  British  government  donated 


50  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

to  the  library  of  the  St.  Louis  University  nearly  a  hun- 
dred large  folio  volumes,  containing  the  ancient  statutes 
of  the  realm,  various  state  papers,  the  famous  Domesday 
Book,  with  its  index,  etc.,  all  reprinted  from  their  origin- 
als by  order  of  the  government.  The  following  injunc- 
tion is  printed  at  the  beginning  of  each  volume  :  "This 
book  is  to  be  perpetually  preserved  in  the  library  of  St. 
Louis  University.  C.  P.  Cooper,  Sec.  Com.  Pub.  Rec., 
March,  1834." 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1834,  Rev.  J.  A.  Elet  was  sent 
from  the  university  to  the  South,  in  order  to  spread 
information  concerning  this  institution,  its  special  ad- 
vantages for  boarders,  etc.,  and  to  obtain  additional 
students,  especially  from  among  the  French  population 
of  Louisiana.  He  returned,  reaching  St.  Louis  on 
April  9th,  accompanied  by  thirty-three  students,  and 
these  were  speedily  followed  by  seventeen  others, 
making  a  total  increase  of  fifty  students,  nearly  all 
from  Louisiana.  At  the  beginning  of  May,  there 
were  at  the  university  one  hundred  and  forty  boarders. 
When  the  annual  commencement  took  place,  on  July 
31,  1834,  the  first  graduates  of  the  institution  received 
their  diplomas ;  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  was  then 
conferred  on  Messrs.  Paul  Auguste  Fremon  Du  Bouffay 
and  Peter  A.  Walsh  ;  the  degree,  Master  of  Arts,  was 
conferred  on  Mr.  John  Servary :  all  three  were  citizens 
of  Missouri. 

There  was  a  further  accession  to  the  staff  of  Jesuit 
teachers  and  officers  at  the  St.  Louis  University  for  the 
session  beginning  September,  1834;  these  additional 
members  were  Messrs.  M.  Pin  and  J.  B.  Emig.  Mr. 
Emig,  afterwards  Father  Emig,  long  remained  at  the 
institution,  where  he  was  eminently  efficient,  both  as  an 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  5  I 

officer  and  a  professor ;  it  was  through  his  influence 
that  the  Greek  language  was  first  introduced  into  the 
course  of  study. 

It  was  now  seen  by  the  directors  of  the  institution 
that  it  was  necessary  still  further  to  increase  their  house 
room;  and  accordingly  a  new  building  was  projected, 
which  was  to  stand  on  Washington  Avenue.  This  ad- 
dition was  made  ready  by  the  summer  of  1835  ;  the  first 
story  was  used  as  a  public  chapel  till  the  completion  of 
St.  Xavier  church,  in  1843;  and  after  that  time,  service 
was  still  held  in  this  chapel,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Ger- 
man Catholics,  till  St.  Joseph's  Church,  on  Biddle 
and  Eleventh  streets,  was  finished,  in  1845. 

The  trustees  of  the  university,  at  a  meeting  held  on 
September  I,  1835,  resolved  to  petition  the  United 
States  government,  through  the  Hon.  Thomas  H. 
Benton,  for  a  grant  of  land  towards  establishing  the  in- 
stitution on  a  solid  and  permanent  basis.  Their  request 
was  not  acceded  to  at  Washington  City ;  and  indeed, 
this  establishment  never  received  any  public  aid,  nor 
has  it  an  endowment  derived  from  any  source,  but  it  is 
entirely  dependent  for  its  support  on  the  regular  fees  of 
its  students. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  trustees,  held  September 
I,  1835,  it  was  also  resolved  that  the  rector  of  the  uni- 
versity should  confer  with  some  gentlemen  eminent  in 
the  medical  profession,  concerning  the  feasibility  of 
forming  a  medical  faculty  and  attaching  the  same  to 
the  St.  Louis  University.  This  project  of  having  a 
medical  faculty  attached  to  the  university  was  approved 
by  the  most  eminent  physicians  of  St.  Louis,  and  by 
friends  of  all  avocations  in  life.  There  were  several  pre- 
liminary consultations  between  the  Medical  Society  of 


$2  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

St.  Louis,  represented  by  B.  G.  Farrar,  H.  Lane,  and 
B.  B.  Brown  on  the  one  side,  and  the  rector  of  the  uni- 
versity, Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen,  on  the  other.  It  was  not 
till  October  5,  1836,  that  they  finally  came  to  a  mutual 
agreement  that  there  should  be  a  medical  faculty  of  the 
university.  A  constitution  was  drawn  up  in  writing  and 
sanctioned  by  both  parties,  after  which  the  Medical  Soci- 
ety selected  the  following  eminent  physicians  as  its  first 
faculty:  C.  J.  Carpenter,  M.D.,  J.  Johnson,  M.D.,  Wm. 
Beaumont,  M.D.,  E.  H.  McCabe,  M.D.,  H.  Lane,  M.D., 
and  H.  King,  M.D.  But,  though  the  medical  faculty  was 
appointed,  and  the  prospectus  of  their  lectures  was  pub- 
lished annually,  with  that  of  the  university  for  the  lit- 
erary department,  the  design  was  not  actually  carried 
into  execution  till  the  autumn  of  1842,  when  the  medi- 
cal department  inaugurated  its  first  course  of  lectures 
in  a  building  erected  for  its  use  on  Washington  Ave- 
nue, west  of  Tenth  Street. 


CHAPTER   V. 

1836—1843. 

ON  March  24,  1836  Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen  was  made 
superior  of  the  Jesuit  mission  in  Missouri.  From  this 
time  forth,  the  superior  of  the  mission  no  longer  resided 
at  the  mother  house,  near  Florissant ;  but  he  made  the 
university  his  home  henceforth,  as  being  more  central 
and  more  easy  of  access.  This  arrangement  continued 
after  the  mission  was  erected  into  a  vice-province  and  a 
province ;  and  it  is  adhered  to  at  this  day.  Besides  the 
communities  and  residences  to  which  the  mother  house 
at  Florissant  had  already  given  origin,  at  St.  Charles,  in 
the  village  of  Florissant,  Portage  des  Sioux,  and  St. 
Louis,  during  this  year  1836,  the  Rev.  Charles  Van 
Quickenborne  established  a  residence  and  small  com- 
munity among  the  Kickapoo  Indians,  on  the  Missouri 
River,  at  a  point  eight  miles  north  of  the  spot  on  which 
Leavenworth  City  is  built.  The  number  of  members 
attached  to  the  Missouri  mission  at  that  time  was 
thirty-seven.  Several  young  men  of  ability  and  supe- 
rior education  joined  during  the  years  1835  and  1836, 
giving  increased  strength  and  efficiency  to  the  corps 
of  teachers  in  the  university. 

Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen  having  been  appointed  superior 
of  the  mission,  the  vacancy  thereby  caused  in  the  office 
of  president  or  rector  of  the  university  was  filled  by 
Rev.  J.  A.  Elet,  who  became  president  at  the  opening 

(53) 


54  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

of  the  next  session,  or  in  September,  1836.  The  scho- 
lastic year  then  beginning  proved  to  be  fully  as  pros- 
perous as  any  preceding  one,  the  number  of  students 
being  one  hundred  and  forty-six. 

The  board  of  trustees,  at  a  meeting  convened  on 
May  3, 1836,  resolved  that  Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen,  Rev.  J. 
A.  Elet,  and  Rev.  Theodore  De  Theux  should  be  con- 
stituted a  committee  to  select  and  agree  upon  a  suitable 
site  outside  of  St.  Louis,  on  which  to  erect  buildings 
required  for  transferring  the  university  thereto.  The 
reason  assigned  by  them  for  taking  this  step  was,  that 
the  necessary  quiet  of  the  institution  was  about  to  be 
interfered  with,  since  some  houses  had  been  put  up 
recently  in  the  very  neighborhood  of  the  university, 
and  additional  ones  were  likely  to  be  erected  in  the 
near  future.  The  locality  chosen  for  this  purpose  by 
the  committee  was  a  farm,  containing  three  hundred 
acres,  on  the  Bellefontaine  Road,  three  and  a  half  miles 
from  St.  Louis,  which  had  been  purchased  a  short 
time  previous  by  the  university.  They  prepared  the 
plan  of  their  proposed  buildings,  and  let  out  to  a  mason 
the  contract  for  constructing  the  basement.  When  the 
foundation  had  been  dug,  this  mason  died,  whereby  the 
work  stopped,  and  the  contract  with  him  became  null. 
The  execution  of  their  undertaking  was  postponed  to 
a  future  year,  and  at  a  later  time  the  project  was  aban- 
doned altogether.  The  purchase  of  the  land  proved  a 
fortunate  investment  of  their  money,  however,  for  it 
became  valuable  in  subsequent  years,  enabling  the 
university  to  make  many  costly  improvements  on  its 
premises  in  the  city,  to  purchase  valuable  additions  to 
its  library,  philosophical  apparatus,  and  museum  of 
natural  history.  The  spot  on  which  it  was  then  decided 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  55 

to  build  a  new  institution  is  now  within  the  city  limits, 
and  is  by  no  means  a  situation  which  possesses  the 
advantages  of  that  retirement  or  complete  seclusion  for 
the  sake  of  which  they  at  that  time  determined  to  move 
away  from  St.  Louis.  The  excavation  then  made  for 
a  basement  is  still  to  be  seen  at  a  conspicuous  point  on 
"  College  Hill,"  in  North  St.  Louis 

It  was  at  the  opening  of  the  session  in  September, 
1836,  that  the  Rev.  George  A.  Carrell  became  a  member 
of  the  faculty,  and  was  made  professor  of  English 
literature.  While  each  one  among  the  first  founders 
and  professors  of  the  university  deserved  a  meed  of 
praise,  and  of  gratitude  from  friends  of  the  institution, 
yet  the  Rev.  James  Van  de  Velde  and  the  Rev.  George 
Carrell  were  preeminent  among  them  for  superior 
literary  attainments,  and  for  their  influence  in  giving  a 
more  elevated  and  learned  tone  to  the  college.  Among 
the  surviving  students  at  the  university  in  their  day 
they  are  still  remembered  and  honorably  named,  for 
the  refined  taste  and  polished  scholarship  manifested  in 
all  their  lectures  before  the  higher  classes  in  the  college 
halls,  and  in  all  their  speeches  to  the  general  public. 

Rev.  Charles  Van  Quickenborne,  to  whom,  above  all 
others,  is  due  the  credit  of  establishing  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sion in  Missouri,  returned,  in  1837,  from  the  Kickapoo 
mission  started  by  him  the  preceding  year,  near  the 
grounds  of  the  present  Fort  Leavenworth,  and  he  went, 
to  recuperate  his  strength,  to  Portage  des  Sioux,  where 
Father  Verreydt  then  resided.1  But  the  hardships  of 


1  Father  Verreydt  built  a  brick  church  at  Portage  des  Sioux  in  1834  ; 
this  church  was  burned  down  on  January  9,  1879.  The  Jesuit  fathers 
had  charge  of  this  church  from  the  first  part  of  June,  1823,  till  Septem- 
ber, 1875,  when  it  was  made  over  to  the  archbishop  of  St.  Louis. 


56  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

several  years  spent  by  him  in  border-life  among  the 
Indians  had  so  shattered  his  constitution  that  no  medi- 
cine and  no  kind  attention  could  revive  him,  and  he  died 
at  Portage  des  Sioux,  on  Thursday,  August  17,  1837. 
His  remains  are  interred  on  a  little  mound  in  the  garden 
at  St.  Stanislaus  novitiate,  and  they  are  now  surrounded 
by  those  of  nearly  all  his  early  companions  in  Missouri. 
A  plain  slab  for  a  headstone,  with  a  Latin  inscription 
on  it,  serves  both  to  mark  his  last  resting-place  and  to 
record  the  main  events  of  his  very  commendable  life. 

The  trustees  of  the  university,  at  a  meeting  which 
was  held  on  May  6,  1837,  appointed  a  committee,  of 
which  Rev.  James  Van  de  Velde  was  made  chairman, 
which  was  instructed  to  take  time,  and  considerately 
"  to  specify  what  studies  and  acquirements  shall  hence- 
forth be  deemed  necessary  for  finishing  the  classical 
course,  and  being  found  qualified  for  taking  the  degree 
of  A.B.  in  the  St.  Louis  University."  The  committee 
offered  their  report  on  the  8th  of  the  following  Decem- 
ber; but  it  was  amended  and  recommitted,  with 
instructions  to  report  also  on  the  conditions  to  be 
prescribed  for  obtaining  the  higher  degree  of  A.M.,  or 
Master  of  Arts.  The  report,  as  finally  adopted  by  the 
board  of  trustees,  on  July  28,  1838,  was  as  follows: 
"First,  that  the  classical  course  shall  comprehend  a 
competent  knowledge  of  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  English 
languages;  of  geography,  use  of  globes,  ancient  and 
modern  history,  logic  and  principles  of  moral  phi- 
losophy, including  ethics  and  metaphysics ;  of  rhetoric 
and  mathematics,  including  arithmetic,  algebra,  plane 
and  solid  geometry,  trigonometry,  surveying,  mensura- 
tion, conic  sections,  and  the  principles  of  natural  phi- 
losophy." It  had  been  determined  in  a  preceding  year, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  5/ 

and  it  was  published  in  the  prospectus  of  the  institu- 
tion, that  "the  degree  of  A.M.  is  given  to  the  alumni 
who,  after  having  received  the  degree  of  A.B.,  shall 
have  devoted  two  years  to  some  literary  pursuit."  It 
was  now  further  provided,  "as  to  graduates  of  other 
colleges  or  universities  that  shall  apply  for  the  degree 
of  A.M.,  it  shall  be  required  that  they  produce  the 
diploma  of  A.B.,  and  testimonials  that,  after  their 
graduation,  they  have  devoted  at  least  two  years  to 
some  literary  pursuit." 

A  knowledge  of  the  branches  specified  in  this 
schedule  of  studies  was  generally  regarded,  at  that  day, 
as  essential  for  a  liberal  education  ;  and,  therefore,  they 
were  then  taught  in  all  institutions  professing  to  impart 
superior  learning.  But  from  what  cause  soever  the 
change  may  have  proceeded,  it  is  an  obvious  and 
generally  recognized  fact  that  the  present  generation  is 
far  from  esteeming  so  highly  a  knowledge  of  the  Greek 
and  Latin  classics  in  the  original  tongues;  whereas 
much  more  value  is  now  set  on  the  thorough  study  of 
applied  mathematics,  the  physical  sciences,  the  useful 
arts,  and  all  the  branches  of  positive  and  practical 
knowledge  which  contribute  to  the  material  progress  of 
human  society. 

In  the  year  1832,  it  had  become  necessary  for  Rev. 
P.  J.  De  Smet,  on  account  of  protracted  ill-health,  to 
withdraw  from  the  Jesuit  mission  of  Missouri  and  return 
to  his  native  land,  Belgium,  for  change  of  air.  After 
reaching  his  friends  and  the  scenes  of  his  youth  in 
Brabant  and  East  Flanders,  he  was  mindful  of  his 
former  companions  in  America ;  he  procured  many 
valuable  instruments  for  the  department  of  physics  in 
the  St.  Louis  University,  as  also  many  volumes  for  the 


58  HISTORY    OF   THE   ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

library,  and  sent  them  as  a  donation:  they  were 
received  on  March  7,  1835.  Although  it  was  not  his 
expectation,  when  leaving  for  Europe,  ever  to  see  the 
United  States  again,  yet,  his  health  having  been  com- 
pletely restored,  he  returned  to  Missouri  in  1837,  and, 
as  is  well  known,  made  St.  Louis  his  home  during  the 
entire  remainder  of  his  extraordinary  life.  Whilst  he 
was  absent  in  Europe,  and  after  his  donations  were 
received,  the  trustees  of  the  university  entered  on  their 
records  the  following  honorable  tribute  to  him  as  a 
benefactor:  — 

"  Whereas  the  board  and  faculty  of  the  St.  Louis  Uni- 
versity are  highly  indebted  to  the  liberality  and  exertions 
of  the  Rev.  P.  J.  De  Smet,  for  the  splendid  apparatus 
of  physical  and  chymicai  instruments  received  at  the 
university  on  the  7th  of  March,  1834; 

"  Resolved,   That  besides  the   special  thanks  already 
tendered   by  the   board    and  faculty  of  the  St.   Louis 
University  to  said  Rev.  P.  J.  De  Smet  on  receipt  of  the 
above-mentioned  apparatus  of  physical  and  chymicai 
instruments,  the  register   of  the    contributions   to    the 
Museum  of  St.  Louis  University  be  opened  with  a  copy 
of  this  resolution,  and  his  name  be  placed  at  the   head 
of  the  list  of  contributors  to  the  museum. 
"  P.  J.  VERH^GEN. 
"  JAMES  VAN  DE  VELDE,  Secretary. 
"  ST.  Louis  UNIVERSITY,  Sept.  5,  1836." 

Father  De  Smet's  donation  included,  also,  "  a  collec- 
tion of  minerals,  classified  according  to  the  system  of 
Dr.  Hauy,"  as  mentioned  in  the  "  list  of  contribu- 
tors." The  date  of  their  arrival  at  St.  Louis  was  not 
1834,  but  1835,  and  they  were  brought  over  to  America 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  $9 

along  with  the  above-mentioned  instruments,  by  Messrs. 
M.  Oakley  and  P.  Verheyden,  who  arrived  in  1835. 

The  register  of  the  students  for  the  years  1837  and 
1838  shows  that  more  than  half  of  the  entire  number 
then  at  the  institution  were  from  the  State  of  Louisiana ; 
and  during  the  first  ten  years,  dating  from  the  begin- 
ning, in  1829,  there  were  twelve  graduates.  The  num- 
ber of  members  in  the  Jesuit  mission  of  Missouri  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1838  had  increased  to  sixty-one, 
twenty-six  of  whom  were  at  the  mother  house  near 
Florissant,  and  nineteen  at  the  St.  Louis  University. 

It  was  during  this  year,  1838,  that  Father  De  Smet 
began  his  remarkable  career  as  a  missionary  among  the 
Indians,  his  first  work  being  to  establish  a  residence 
among  the  Pottawatomies  '  dwelling  in  the  vicinity  of 
Council  Bluffs,  which  is  in  Iowa,  and  directly  opposite 
the  city  of  Omaha.  The  line  of  bluffs  in  Iowa,  which 
are  there  distant  about  four  miles  from  those  in  Ne- 
braska, on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  was  washed 
by  the  Missouri  at  that  period. 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year,  several  priests  and  scho- 
lastics were  sent  from  the  Missouri  mission  to  Louisi- 
ana, to  conduct  St.  Charles  College,  at  Grand  Coteau.2 
That  institution  remained  attached  to  Missouri  till  the 
year  1848,  when,  such  assistance  being  no  longer  neces- 
sary for  the  mission  of  New  Orleans,  the  members  who 


1  They  were  a  division  of  the  Pottawatomie  tribe,  known  as  "  Prairie 
Indians  ;"  they  had  hitherto  been  nomadic,  and  they  had  acquired  no 
habits  of  civilized  life. 

2  The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  had  established  a  school  near  that 
place  in  1821,  on  a  spot  donated  for  the  purpose  by  Mrs.  Charles  Smith, 
in  accordance  with  her  husband's  will.      He   was  a   Catholic,  who  had 
come  from  Maryland  in  1803,  and  settled  in  this  portion  of  Louisiana. 


6O  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

had  been  sent  thither  returned  to  the  Western 
mission. 

In  January,  1839,  Rev.  Christian  Hoecken  and  a  com- 
panion took  spiritual  charge  of  the  Pottawatomie  In- 
dians, who  had  the  previous  year  been  transferred  by 
the  United  States  government  from  Michigan  to  Sugar 
Creek,  about  fifteen  miles  west  of  the  Missouri  border, 
in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Kansas.  Rev.  Mr.  Petit,  a 
secular  priest  from  Vincennes,  Indiana,  had  accompa- 
nied the  tribe  from  Michigan  to  their  new  home,  in 
1838,  but  he  took  sick,  got  as  far  as  St.  Louis  on  his 
return  to  Indiana,  and  died  at  the  university,  about  the 
beginning  of  January,  1839. 

A  suite  of  class-rooms  was  erected  on  Christy  Avenue 
during  the  year  1 839,  to  accommodate  the  increased  num- 
ber of  students;  the  building  was  made  one  and  a  half 
stories,  the  attic  being  used  temporarily  as  a  dormitory. 

On  December  3,  1839,  the  mission  of  Missouri  was 
raised  to  the  rank  of  a  vice-province,  and  the  official 
title  of  the  superior  was  thereby  changed  to  that  of 
vice-provincial. 

During  the  year  1839,  and  the  two  or  three  years 
next  succeeding  it,  the  number  of  members  in  the  vice- 
province  increased  rapidly,  reaching  one  hundred  and 
thirteen  at  the  end  of  1841.  They  were  able,  therefore, 
greatly  to  enlarge  the  field  of  their  usefulness.  It  was 
in  the  year  1840  that  Father  De  Smet  made  his  first 
journey  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  through  Oregon, 
where  he  prepared  the  way  for  the  numerous  mission- 
aries who,  in  succeeding  years,  did  so  much  for  the  wild 
tribes  wandering  over  those  regions. 

In  the  year  1840  the  vice-provincial  of  Missouri 
agreed  to  accept  from  Bishop  Purcell,  of  Cincinnati,  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  6l 

Athenaeum,  a  college  which  had  been  established  by 
Bishop  Fenwick,  and  first  opened  for  classes  October 
17,  1831.  It  having  been  made  over  to  the  vice- 
province  of  Missouri  by  Bishop  Purcell,  in  1840,  Rev.  J. 
A.  Elet  was  installed  its  first  president  under  its  new 
organization.  Accompanied  by  a  body  of  professors,  he 
had  gone  to  Cincinnati  and  gotten  all  things  in  readi- 
ness to  begin  classes  at  the  Athenaeum  about  the  first 
of  October.  The  name  of  the  institution  was  changed 
to  that  of  St.  Xavier  College  ;  it  has  retained  this  name 
to  the  present  day,  and  under  that  name  it  was  rechar- 
tered  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio  in  1869. 

In  the  spring  of  1840  the  corner-stone  of  St.  Xavier 
Church,  St.  Louis,  or,  as  it  is  better  known  to  the  pub- 
lic, "  The  College  Church,"  was  laid  with  solemn  cere- 
mony, Rev.  George  A.  Carrell  addressing  the  people 
from  the  eastern  balcony  of  the  college.  The  church 
was  dedicated  and  first  opened  for  public  service  on 
Palm  Sunday,  1843. 

When  Rev.  J.  A.  Elet  was  removed  to  Cincinnati,  in 
1840,  Rev.  James  Van  de  Velde  succeeded  him  as 
president  of  the  St.  Louis  University.  He  remained  in 
this  office  till  the  year  1843,  when  he  was  made  vice- 
provincial  of  the  Jesuit  Society  in  Missouri.  The 
literary  culture  of  the  superior  classes  in  the  university 
had  never  risen  to  so  high  a  standard  as  it  did  during 
his  term  in  office.  Besides  being  thoroughly  master  of 
the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  he  was  able  to  speak  and 
write  several  modern  languages  with  elegance.  But 
the  best  efforts  of  his  life  as  a  student  had  been  spent 
in  acquiring  the  English  language,  by  the  aid  of  its 
recognized  models  of  taste  and  style,  an  undertaking 
which  he  accomplished  with  great  success.  His  few 


62  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

published  essays  and  lectures  might  be  proposed  as 
samples  of  purity  and  accuracy  of  language,  as  well  as 
of  good  taste,  beauty,  and  refinement  in  the  art  of 
composition. 

Schools  for  the  education  of  the  Indian  children  at 
the  mission  on  Sugar  Creek,  near  the  head-waters  of 
Osage  River,  were  established  in  1841.  The  school 
for  the  Indian  boys  was  taught  by  members  of  the 
Jesuit  Society.  In  order  to  provide  for  the  proper 
training  of  the  girls,  Father  Verhaegen,  who  was  the 
vice-provincial,  applied  to  the  Ladies  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  Society  to  delegate  some  of  their  members  for 
this  work,  promising  them,  as  inducements,  much  hard- 
ship and  little  human  comfort.  These  were  decisive 
motives  for  the  zealous  ladies,  and  in  July,  1841,  four 
of  them,  with  Madame  Lucille  Mathevon  as  superior, 
went  to  the  Pottawatomie  mission,  at  Sugar  Creek, 
and  began  a  school  for  the  Indian  girls.  Instead  of 
teaching  courtly  manners  to  the  children  of  the  rich 
and  great,  as  they  could  have  done  had  they  preferred 
it,  these  self-sacrificing  religious  women  there  spent 
many  years  of  their  lives,  training  sulky  and  indocile 
young  savages  in  the  first  elements  of  human  thought. 

During  the  year  1842,  there  occurred  one  of  those 
financial  crises  which,  in  the  United  States,  periodically 
disturb  commercial  employments,  destroy  general  con- 
fidence, and  produce  that  stagnation  of  all  trades  which 
often  results  in  so  much  misery  to  the  mass  of  the 
people.  In  order  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the 
altered  circumstances,  the  board  of  trustees,  with  the 
advice  of  Father  Verhaegen,  vice-provincial,  reduced 
the  fee  for  board  and  tuition  at  the  university  to  $130 
per  session  often  months.  Despite  the  stress  of  "hard 


HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  63 

times,"  the  classes  were  all  full,  the  institution  losing 
none  of  its  wonted  prosperity. 

The  first  lecture  to  the  medical  department  of  the  St. 
Louis  University  was  given  to  the  students  and  a  numer- 
ous audience  of  the  public  on  March  28,  1842,  by  Pro- 
fessor Hall.  The  medical  faculty  was  composed  of 
able  men  ;  but  it  was,  perhaps,  mainly  through  the  influ- 
ence of  the  gifted  and  learned  Dr.  Moses  L.  Linton, 
and  the  eminent  surgeon,  Dr.  Charles  Pope,  that  the 
medical  college  became  so  successful,  attracting  numer- 
ous students  from  all  the  Western  States. 

The  following  list  of  professors  composed  the  medi- 
cal faculty  for  the  session  1842-43:  Daniel  Brainard, 
M.D.;  Joseph  W.  Hall,  M.D. ;  H.  Augustus  Prout, 
M.D. ;  James  V.  Prather,  M.D. ;  Moses  L.  Linton, 
M.D. ;  Joseph  J.  Norwood,  M.D. ;  Alvin  Litton,  M.D. 

The  completion  of  St.  Xavier  Church,  and  its  final 
dedication  on  Palm  Sunday,  1843,  stiM  further  aug- 
mented the  moral  power  of  the  university  in  St.  Louis 
and  vicinity,  where  that  influence  was  already  great ; 
thus  additional  ties  were  formed,  more  closely  binding 
to  the  establishment  the  affection  of  the  older  families 
in  the  city  and  county. 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  Father  Van  de  Velde 
had  insisted,  when  it  was  first  decided  to  build  St. 
Xavier  Church,  that  it  should  front  on  Washington 
Avenue,  foreseeing  that,  although  Washington  Avenue 
was  then  but  a  road  leading  out  of  the  town,  it 
would,  in  future  time,  become  a  principal  street  of  the 
city;  as  all  subsequent  improvements  made  by  the 
college  would  naturally  have  their  front  on  this  street, 
the  entire  property  could  be  sold  to  better  advantage, 
should  it  ever  become  necessary  to  move  the  institution 


64  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

to  another  locality,  further  away  from  the  stir  and  noise 
of  business.  The  event  proves  that  his  counsel  was 
sagacious,  though  it  did  not  prevail. 

In  1843,  St.  Vincent's  school  for  girls  was  estab- 
lished, on  the  corner  of  Tenth  and  St.  Charles  Streets ; 
it  was  started  as  a  parochial  school,  but  it  became  neces- 
sary, in  order  to  subsist,  to  raise  the  school  to  a  higher 
grade ;  it  was  long  known  as  "  Sister  Olympia's  School." 
The  property  on  which  the  school  stood  was  given  for 
the  purpose  by  Mrs.  Ann  L.  Hunt.  On  July  14,  1843, 
Rev.  Dr.  Martin  J.  Spalding,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  gave  an  eloquent 
lecture  in  the  new  church  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  St. 
Louis,  for  the  benefit  of  its  parochial  schools. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

1843—1854. 

REV.  JAMES  VAN  DE  VELDE  was  appointed  vice-provin- 
cial of  Missouri  on  September  17,  1843,  and  he  was 
succeeded  in  the  office  of  president  by  the  Rev.  George 
A.  Carrell.  Father  Carrell  had  been  professor  of  mental 
and  moral  philosophy  during  several  years  next  preced- 
ing his  elevation  to  the  chair  of  rector,  and  for  some 
sessions  he  had  also  been  professor  of  rhetoric  and 
English  literature.  In  both  these  positions  he  had  been 
eminently  successful.  He  was  peculiarly  happy  in  his 
language,  and  in  imparting  his  own  ideas  to  others 
with  force  and  clearness,  whether  in  the  pulpit  or 
in  the  class-room.  As  president  of  the  university,  he 
was  austere  even  unto  severity.  During  the  first  two 
years  of  his  rectorship  there  was  a  marked  decline 
in  the  number  of  students,  there  being  less  than  eighty 
for  the  scholastic  year  ending  in  the  summer  of  1845, 
including  both  the  boarders  and  the  externs ;  a  result 
which  was  attributed  by  his  friends,  but,  no  doubt, 
erroneously,  to  the  stern  notions  of  rule  and  authority 
with  which  he  governed.  It  was  found  necessary,  in 
order  to  improve  this  condition  of  things,  really  brought 
about  by  the  unprosperous  times,  for  one  of  the  pro- 
fessors to  be  sent  to  the  Southern  States  to  canvass 
for  students ;  and  accordingly,  Rev.  John  Gleizal  was 
despatched  to  New  Orleans,  early  in  the  spring  of  1846, 

5  (65) 


66  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

to  accomplish  this  work.  His  visit  to  the  South  proved 
highly  beneficial,  realizing  the  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tions from  it ;  for  a  large  number  of  students  came  up 
from  the  South,  some  accompanying  him,  others  follow- 
ing him  after  his  return,  in  the  early  autumn  of  that 
year.1 

An  occurrence  which  caused  some  increase  of  number 
for  the  session  beginning  in  September,  1846,  was  the 
closing  of  St.  Mary's  College,  in  Marion  County,  Ken- 
tucky. It  was  during  the  summer  of  that  year  that  the 
Jesuits  who  founded  the  present  mission  of  New  York 
and  Canada  left  Kentucky,  to  take  charge  of  St.  John's 
College,  at  Fordham;  and  a  number  of  the  students 
who  were  with  them  at  St.  Mary's  College,  in  Kentucky, 
came  to  St.  Louis  University  after  the  fathers  had 
abandoned  that  place.  Thus  it  happened  that  the 
ending  of  the  session  1845-46,  was  fully  as  auspicious 
as  that  of  any  preceding  one. 

In  1846,  Father  Carrell  erected  a  large  building,  three 
stories  high,  on  the  south  line  of  Christy  Avenue ;  the 
first  story  was  to  be  used  for  wardrobe  and  infirmary 
purposes,  the  second  for  the  parochial  school,  and  the 
third  as  a  dormitory  for  the  boarders. 

The  institution  had  at  this  time  an  imposing  list  of 
professors  and  tutors,  as  the  vice-province  had  steadily 
and  rapidly  increased  the  number  of  its  members  since 


1  The  corner-stone  of  St.  Joseph's  Church,  corner  of  Eleventh  and 
Biddle  Streets,  was  laid  April  14,  1844.  St.  Joseph's  soon  grew  to  be 
one  of  the  largest  congregations  among  the  German  Catholics  of  St. 
Louis.  Work  on  this  church  was  actually  begun  March  I,  1844,  and 
work  on  St.  Mary's  Orphan  Asylum  was  begun  March  yth  of  the  same 
year.  The  lot  on  which  St.  Joseph's  Church  is  built,  and  also  that  on 
which  St.  Mary's  Asylum  stands,  were  given  by  Mrs.  Biddle. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  6/ 

the  year  1839;  and  from  the  circumstance,  also,  that  the 
scholasticate  for  the  study  of  theology  and  philosophy 
had  been  transferred,  in  1843,  fr°m  tne  country-place 
now  known  as  College  Hill  to  the  university.  That 
portion  of  North  St.  Louis  usually  called  Lowell  is  built 
on  a  part  of  the  farm  then  belonging  to  the  university. 
A  certain  number  of  members  resided  at  this  suburban 
home  from  1837  to  1847,  under  the  superiorship  of 
Rev.  John  Schoenmakers  ;  he  was  sent,  in  the  spring  of 
1847,  to  begin  the  residence  at  the  Osage  Mission,  in 
South-eastern  Kansas,  Rev.  Ignatius  Maes  taking  his 
place  at  College  Hill ;  but  only  for  a  short  time,  as  it 
was  closed  that  year. 

At  this  period,  the  city  of  St.  Louis  took  a  new  start 
in  growth  and  prosperity,  so  rapid  and  so  remarkable 
as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  its  destiny  soon  to  become  a 
great  city  ;  and  that  such  would  be  its  future,  Capt. 
Marryatt  had  predicted,  after  visiting  St.  Louis  in  1838. 
Fourth  Street  was  pretty  well  built  up  with  dwellings 
in  1846,  from  Market  Street  eight  or  ten  squares  north- 
ward ;  and  dwelling-houses  were  going  up  rapidly  on 
Fifth  and  Sixth  Streets,  on  Franklin  Avenue,  and  on 
all  streets  leading  east  and  west,  from  Market  to  Locust 
Street ;  but  there  was,  as  yet,  little  improvement  made 
on  any  street  west  of  Tenth  Street.  The  Planters' 
House,  then  the  only  great  hotel  of  St.  Louis,  had  been 
finished  in  1841  ;  and  the  present  court-house  was  going 
up  in  1846. 

During  the  year  1846,  the  Rev.  John  Diels,  having 
previously  spent  several  years  among  the  Pottawato- 
mie  Indians  at  the  Sugar  Creek  mission,  prepared  with 
much  care,  and  completed,  a  grammar  and  dictionary 
of  their  language ;  and  the  Pottawatomie  language  was 


68  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

accounted  by  the  missionaries  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful among  the  tongues  of  the  aborigines.  This  compo- 
sition was  the  groundwork  of  an  extensive  and  elaborate 
grammar  and  dictionary  of  that  language,  which  Rev. 
Maurice  Gailland,  assisted  by  Father  Diels,  subsequently 
spent  many  years  in  perfecting.  In  1870  this  work 
was  offered  to  Professor  Henry,  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institute,  for  publication ;  but  Professor  Henry  would 
not  accept  it  unless  as  an  unconditional  gift,  to  be  pub- 
lished or  not,  at  his  own  option.  Since  this  proposition 
was  not  acceptable,  the  work  was  not  given  to  the 
Smithsonian  Institute.  It  was  borrowed  by  Father  De 
Smet,  when  he  made  his  last  trip  to  Europe,  in  1871,  to 
show  it  to  some  learned  friends  in  Belgium ;  it  was  left 
by  him  in  Belgium.1 

At  the  close  of  the  scholastic  year,  in  July,  1847, 
Rev.  John  B.  Druyts  was  appointed  president  of  the  St. 
Louis  University.  The  institution  had  then  recovered 
entirely  from  the  depression  brought  on  it  mainly  by 
the  financial  troubles  of  the  country,  beginning  in  1842. 
Father  Carrell  went  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  was 
appointed  president  of  St.  Xavier  College,  on  June  29, 
1851  ;  he  was  elevated  to  the  more  exalted  rank  of 
Bishop  of  Covington,  Kentucky,  in  1853.  After  filling 
that  important  office,  as  first  Bishop  of  Covington,  for 
fifteen  years  with  much  success,  and  with  the  complet- 
est  satisfaction  to  priests  and  laity,  he  died  in  1868. 
His  refined  manners,  his  grace  and  ease  in  conversation, 
and  his  cultivated  scholarship,  all  joined  to  genuine  and 
even  tender  piety,  caused  him  to  be  much  esteemed  by 


1  Father  Gailland   died  August  12,    1877,    at   St.    Mary's  College, 
Kansas. 


v^V^  ^**i>^ 

f  OF  THE     H     X 

I    UNIVERSITY  } 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  69 

all  that  knew  him  in  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  in  Coving- 
ton,  and  where,  er  he  had  acquaintances. 

Father  Druyts  had  been  employed,  either  as  pro- 
fessor or  as  disciplinarian,  in  the  university  for  twelve 
years  next  preceding  his  promotion  to  the  office  of 
president,  in  1847.  The  experience  which  he  was  thus 
enabled  to  acquire,  together  with  his  natural  aptitude 
for  such  a  position,  made  him  one  of  the  most  popular, 
and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most  successful,  among 
all  that  had  thus  far  filled  the  office  of  president  in  the 
university.  No  trying  or  adverse  event  could  disturb 
his  perfect  equanimity,  or  lessen  his  complete  self-pos- 
session. His  temper  seemed  never  to  be  ruffled  :  yet 
he  could  be  severe  or  gentle ;  he  could  be  exacting,  or 
could  blandly  yield  to  the  most  lowly,  according  as  de- 
mands of  duty,  expediency,  or  the  good  of  others  might 
happen  to  require  of  him.  His  term  in  office  lasted  till 
the  autumn  of  1854,  and  he  was  even  then  relieved  of 
his  burden  with  reluctance,  though  he  had  almost  en- 
tirely lost  his  hearing.  His  entrance  into  the  office  of 
president  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  institution,  and  it 
then  began  that  career  of  genuine  and  solidly  founded 
prosperity  which,  down  to  the  present  day,  has  met  with 
no  serious  reverse. 

On  June  3,  1848,  Rev.  James  Van  de  Velde  retired 
from  the  office  of  vice-provincial,  and  he  was  succeeded 
by  Rev.  John  A.  Elet.  Father  Van  de  Velde  remained 
in  St.  Louis  but  a  short  time,  when  information  reached 
him  that  he  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Chicago.  Arch- 
bishop Eccleston  received  the  bulls  appointing  him  to 
this  See  on  December  I,  1848,  and  he  was  consecrated 
on  February  1 1,  1849.  He  was  subsequently  transferred 
to  the  See  of  Natchez,  Mississippi,  first  reaching  that 


7O  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

place  on  November  23,  1853;  he  died  of  yellow  fever 
on  November  13,  1855,  at  his  residence  in  Natchez. 

The  revolutionary  troubles  of  Europe,  which  broke 
out  into  open  violence  towards  the  end  of  1847,  and 
culminated  in  1848,  made  it  necessary  for  the  Jesuits, 
in  places  where  they  were  ejected  from  their  colleges 
and  their  property  was  seized  upon,  to  seek  for  shelter 
in  other  lands.  Many  of  these  refugees  came  to  the 
United  States,  seventy-six  of  them  finding  homes  in  the 
vice-province  ot  Missouri.  Most  of  these  exiles  had 
been  driven  from  Italy  and  Switzerland,  and  about 
forty  of  them  received  hospitality  at  the  St.  Louis  Uni- 
versity. Some  of  these  expatriated  Jesuits  never  re- 
turned to  Europe,  but  remained  afterwards  permanently 
attached  to  the  vice-province  of  Missouri,  where  they 
became  useful  auxiliaries  to  the  various  missions  and  col- 
leges of  the  West ;  the  great  majority  of  them,  however, 
returned  to  the  Old  World  within  the  two  years  next 
succeeding.  Of  those  remaining  in  the  United  States, 
some  went  to  the  Indian  missions  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, where  they  have  since  died  under  the  hardships 
and  privations  of  a  life  among  homeless,  wandering 
savages.  Others  of  their  number  began,  in  1854,  under 
Rev.  Nicholas  Congiato  as  superior,  the  present  flourish- 
ing mission  of  California,  which  still  remains  annexed 
to  the  province  of  Turin,  Italy. 

The  great  addition  made  to  the  number  of  members 
in  the  vice-province  of  Missouri  during  the  first  half  of 
the  year  1848,  by  the  causes  above  stated,  was  an  in- 
ducement for  Father  Elet  and  his  consultors  finally  to 
perfect  an  arrangement,  which  had  been  under  con- 
sideration several  months,  for  taking  charge  of  St. 
Joseph's  College,  at  Bardstown,  Kentucky.  The  ven- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  /I 

erable  Bishop  Flaget  had  already  invited  the  Jesuits  of 
France  to  accept  that  college,  in  his  diocese,  as  long  ago 
as  the  year  1829,  or  nineteen  years  before  the  present 
offer.'  But,  by  some  misunderstanding,  the  French 
Jesuits  did  not  come  to  the  United  States  until  two 
years  after  the  time  appointed  for  delivering  the  col- 
lege into  their  hands ;  and,  meanwhile,  obligations  had 
been  contracted  with  other  parties.  St.  Mary's  Col- 
lege, in  Marion  County,  Kentucky,  was  transferred  to 
these  Jesuit  fathers  from  France,  at  the  death  of  its 
founder,  Rev.  William  Byrne,  which  occurred  June  5, 
1833.  They  laid  the  foundation  of  another  college,  in 
Louisville,  during  the  summer  of  1845,  but  early  in  1846 
they  made  an  agreement  with  Bishop  Hughes,  of  New 
York,  to  take  charge  of  St.  John's  College,  at  Fordham, 
and  also  to  establish  a  college  for  externs  in  New  York 
City.  They  left  the  Diocese  of  Louisville  in  July,  1846, 
returning  St.  Mary's  College  to  the  bishop,  and  at  the 
same  time  disposing  of  the  property  owned  by  them  in 
the  city  of  Louisville. 

St.  Joseph's  College,  at  Bardstown,  after  many  years 
of  depression,  had  become  prosperous  again  under  the 
able  administration  of  Rev.  Edward  McMahon,  aided  by 
the  efficient  cooperation  of  Rev.  John  B.  Hutchens. 
But  in  the  year  1848,  both  of  these  reverend  gentlemen 
had  grown  tired  of  such  employment,  and  they  longed 
to  pursue  a  different  course  of  life,  in  which  their  occu- 
pations would  be  exclusively  those  of  the  priesthood ; 
hence  they,  as  well  as  the  priests  of  the  diocese  in  gen- 
eral, favored  the  proposed  plan  of  passing  St.  Joseph's 
College  under  new  control.  It  was  under  these  circum- 
stances that  Bibhop  Flaget,  whose  years  then  exceeded 


72  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

four  score,  urged  on  Father  Elet,  vice-provincial  of 
Missouri,  his  earnest  desire  to  welcome  the  Jesuits  back 
again  into  his  diocese  before  his  days  were  ended,  in- 
sisting that  they  would  accept  St.  Joseph's  College,  at 
Bardstown,  with  a  view  of  retaining  it  permanently,  and 
of  starting  a  college  for  externs  in  Louisville. 

July  24,  1848,  six  members  of  the  society  left  St. 
Louis  on  the  steamboat  "  Ocean  Wave,"  for  Bardstown, 
by  way  of  Louisville,  to  take  possession  of  St.  Joseph's 
College  ;  Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen,  the  first  president  of 
the  institution  after  it  changed  hands,  having  gone  there 
about  the  end  of  the  preceding  month.  St.  Joseph's 
College  was  exceedingly  prosperous  under  the  fathers' 
management,  until  the  year  1 86 1,  when  it  became  neces- 
sary to  suspend  all  classes,  in  consequence  of  the  war 
between  the  Northern  and  Southern  States,  which  then 
began.  The  institution  was  never  afterwards  reorgan- 
ized by  the  Jesuits,  and  it  was  finally  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  the  bishop  in  December,  1868,  twenty  years 
after  it  had  first  been  accepted.  A  college  had  been 
started  in  Louisville  about  the  beginning  of  1849,  and 
its  success  was  also  highly  satisfactory,  but  it  was  closed 
in  1857.  The  transfer  and  the  acceptance  of  these  two 
institutions  had  been  made  subject  to  conditions  by  the 
contracting  parties,  which  did  not  subsequently  prove 
to  be  mutually  satisfactory,  nor  were  they  adjusted  by 
mutual  concessions. 

In  1847,  the  larger  and  smaller  students  at  the  St. 
Louis  University  were  separated  from  each  other,  and 
assigned  distinct  play-grounds,  dining-rooms,  study- 
halls,  etc.  The  purchase,  made  in  1849,  of  the  building 
on  Washington  Avenue,  west  of  Tenth  Street,  previously 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  73 

used  by  the  medical  department,  rendered  this  judicious 
arrangement  for  the  welfare  of  the  students  both  easy 
in  practice  and  commodious. 

On  October  5,  1848,  the  medical  faculty  requested 
the  trustees  of  the  university  to  have  the  connection 
of  the  medical  department  with  the  university  dis- 
solved, with  the  right  of  retaining  the  name  under 
which  the  medical  college  was  started ;  and  this  re- 
quest was  repeated  on  January  24,  1849.  The  reason 
assigned  by  the  medical  faculty  for  desiring  to  take 
this  step  was  fear  of  injury  to  the  medical  depart- 
ment, arising  from  religious  prejudices  among  the 
people  at  large  against  the  Catholics  and  Catholic  insti 
tutions.  The  board  of  trustees  did  not  then  consent 
for  the  separation  to  take  place.  When  the  "  Know- 
Nothing  "  excitement  arose  and  began  to  spread  over 
the  land,  in  1854  and  1855,  it  was  again  decided  by  a 
majority  of  the  medical  faculty  that  it  was  expedient 
for  the  medical  department  to  be  separated  from 
the  university,  and  be  henceforth  conducted  under  a 
distinct  charter  of  its  own ;  and  this  time,  by  mutual 
consent,  its  connection  with  the  St.  Louis  University 
finally  ceased,  but  without  any  unfriendly  feeling  or 
hard  thought  on  either  side,  since  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances of  the  times  seemed  to  compel  the  medical 
department  to  adopt  that  course. 

It  should  have  been  stated  in  another  place  that  the 
law  department  of  the  St.  Louis  University  began  its 
first  session  in  November,  1843.  But  despite  the  efforts 
made  by  Hon.  Richard  A.  Buckner  to  sustain  it,  the 
law  school  met  with  only  limited  success,  and  the  or- 
ganization was  soon  dissolved. 

About  the  beginning  of  May,  1849,  the  Asiatic  chol- 


74  HISTORY    OF   THE   ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

era  again  made  its  appearance  in  St.  Louis ;  and  its 
visitation  at  this  time  was  not  less  disastrous  than  it  had 
proved  to  be  in  the  years  1832  and  1833.  Its  ravages 
were  greatest  in  the  narrow  streets  and  alleys,  and  in 
hovels  and  tenements  crowded  with  the  poor ;  yet  no 
class  of  the  people  was  entirely  spared  by  this  fearful 
scourge,  coming  all  the  way  from  the  sickly  lowlands  of 
India.  No  case  of  the  disease  occurred  in  the  univer- 
sity, which  preservation  then,  as  had  been  done  in  1833, 
was  gratefully  accepted  by  the  entire  establishment  as 
a  special  favor  of  Divine  Providence. 

During  the  month  of  May,  all  the  students  having  as- 
sembled in  their  chapel  for  religious  exercises,  made  a 
promise,  by  way  of  pious  vow,  with  the  advice  of  Rev. 
Isidore  Boudreaux,  that  they  would  adorn  the  statue 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  St.  Francis  Xavier's  Church 
with  a  silver  crown,  provided  all  the  inmates  of  the 
university  were  preserved  from  cholera.  This  vow  was 
faithfully  performed,  and  the  crown  was  placed  on  the 
statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  October  8,  1849.  The 
following  record  was  at  the  same  time  inscribed,  in  let- 
ters of  gold,  on  a  marble  slab  attached  to  the  south 
wall  of  St.  Xavier's  Church,  near  the  altar  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary  :  - 

s.  M.  o.  P.  N. 

In  memoriam  insignis  beneficii  per  Mariam  accepti. 

A.  D.  1849,  grassante  hie  peste,  qua  prope  sex  millia 
civium,  paucos  intra  menses,  interierunt,  Rector,  Pro- 
fessores,  ac  Alumni  hujus  Universitatis  in  tanto  vitae 
discrimine  constituti,  ad  Mariam,  Matrem  Dei,  Matrem 
Hominum  confugerunt  votoque  sese  obstrinxerunt 
decorandi  imaginem  ejus  corona  argentea,  si  ad  unum 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  /$ 

omnes  incolumes  servarentur.  Placuit  Divino  Filio 
tanta  in  Divinam  Matrem  fiducia.  Etenim  exitiosa 
pestis,  vetante  Maria,  muros  Universitatis  invadere 
non  fuit  ausa ;  et  tota  mirante  civitate,  e  ducentis  et 
pluribus  convictoribus,  ne  unus  quidem  lue  infectus  fuit. 

GRATI  MARINE  FILII. 

^Translation.^ 

In  memory  of  the  signal  favor  conferred  through  the 
intercession  of  Mary.  A.  D.  1849,  while  the  pestilence 
was  raging  in  this  city,  whereby,  in  the  space  of  a  few 
months,  six  thousand  citizens  perished,  the  rector,  pro- 
fessors, and  students  of  this  university,  finding  them- 
selves in  imminent  danger  of  death,  had  recourse  to 
Mary,  Mother  of  God  and  of  men,  and  by  vow  bound 
themselves  to  place  a  silver  crown  upon  her  statue,  if 
every  member  of  the  university  were  preserved  from 
the  infection.  This  great  confidence  in  the  Mother  of 
God  pleased  her  Divine  Son  ;  for  the  devastating  scourge, 
through  the  intercession  of  Mary,  was  not  allowed  to 
enter  within  the  walls  of  the  university;  and  to  the  ad- 
miration of  the  entire  city,  not  even  one,  out  of  two 
hundred  and  more  boarders,  was  infected  with  the 
plague. 

THE  GRATEFUL  SONS  OF  MARY. 

Still  another  calamity  befel  St.  Louis  during  the 
same  month  of  May,  1849, — an  extensive  fire,  by 
which  twenty-seven  steamboats  were  destroyed  at  the 
wharf;  and,  the  flames  having  been  communicated 
to  some  neighboring  business  houses,  fourteen  squares, 
all  solidly  built  up,  were  burned  to  the  ground  before 
the  conflagration  finally  ceased. 


/6  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

These  public  misfortunes  caused  no  perceptible  dimi- 
nution of  prosperity  at  the  university,  and  when  the  ses- 
sion opened,  in  September  of  that  year,  the  number  of 
students  in  the  classes  was  fully  up  to  the  highest  aver- 
age. On  May  19, 1851,  the  Church  of  St.  Francis  Xavier, 
which  is  on  the  property  originally  donated  by  Jere- 
miah Conners  to  Bishop  Dubourg  for  a  college,  was 
transferred  by  the  vice-provincial  of  Missouri  to  the 
control  of  the  St.  Louis  University,  which  assumed  an 
uncancelled  debt  on  the  church  of  thirty-eight  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  ($38,750).  This 
church,  which  has  always  been,  from  its  beginning,  as 
a  centre  at  which  numerous  throngs  of  people  collect 
for  divine  service  on  Sundays,  became,  by  this  change 
in  the  government  of  it,  an  additional  and  important 
factor  in  the  great  moral  power  which  "  The  College  " 
has  possessed  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  during  the  half- 
century  of  its  existence.  The  Young  Men's  Sodality> 
which  was  first  instituted  by  Father  Damen,  in 
1846,  and  the  Young  Ladies'  Sodality,  established 
in  1847,  attracted  a  large  number  of  the  youth  belong- 
ing to  many  of  the  principal  Catholic  families ;  and 
for  them  these  associations  proved  to  be  an  efficacious 
means  of  solid  and  lasting  good.  The  good  influence 
of  these  sodalities,  especially  over  the  Catholic  youth  of 
the  city,  was  still  further  increased  after  their  hall, 
library,  and  reading-rooms  were  completed,  in  I855.1 

Rev.  William  S.  Murphy  became  vice-provincial  of 
Missouri  on  August  15,  1851.    Father  John  A.  Elet  was 


1  The  hall  was  erected  for  the  Young  Men's  Sodality,  but  they  gen- 
erously consented,  in  the  year  1865,  for  the  Young  Ladies'  Sodality  to 
occupy  one  story  of  their  building.  This  building  is  on  the  south-east- 
ern corner  of  Ninth  Street  and  Christy  Avenue. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  // 

then  in  a  precarious  state  of  health,  and  had  petitioned 
to  be  relieved  of  that  onerous  office.  But  Father  Elet 
did  not  recover  his  health,  and  he  finally  died  of  his 
sickness,  on  October  2,  1851.  Along  with  a  high  de- 
gree of  administrative  ability,  Father  Elet  possessed  a 
union  of  amiable  qualities  that  made  him  loved  by  all 
that  knew  him.  He  had  a  facility  in  rendering  himself 
"all  to  all,"  by  which  he  could  be  learned  with  the 
learned,  and  simple  with  the  simple  ;  he  could  converse 
on  the  high  questions  of  philosophy  or  theology,  or  he 
could  explain  the  details  of  practical  duties  in  life  to 
children,  so  as  to  hold  their  attention  captivated.  In 
conciliating  the  good-will  of  others  for  their  own  advan- 
tage, nature  helped  him  with  a  voice  that  was  bland 
and  winning,  at  the  same  time  that  it  was  fatherly,  and 
inspired  reverence  ;  his  countenance,  his  whole  figure, 
which  was  that  of  faultless  manly  symmetry,  all  spoke 
to  the  eyes  of  his  hearers.  All  the  vice-province  and 
his  friends  among  the  laity  deeply  regretted  his  death, 
as  the  loss  of  a  member  who,  then  at  middle  age,  had 
just  fairly  entered  upon  the  period  of  his  life  that  prom- 
ised to  be  the  most  bright  and  useful  as  a  Jesuit  and  as 
a  priest  of  God. 

Father  Murphy,  when  appointed  vice-provincial,  was 
attached  to  the  New  York  and  Canada  mission ;  he  had 
originally  come  to  the  United  States  at  the  beginning 
of  1836,  and  was  at  St.  Mary's  College  from  that  time 
till  the  year  1846,  when  the  Jesuits  left  Kentucky  and 
went  to  New  York.  He  Avas  president  of  St.  Mary's 
College,  in  Kentucky,  from  the  year  1839  till  it  was 
given  up  by  the  Jesuits,  in  1846.  He  was  a  keen  ob- 
server both  of  men  and  things,  and  he  was  remarkable 
for  his  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  the  correctness 


/8  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

with  which  he  could  read  personal  character.  Exten- 
sive and  varied  reading  of  the  best  authors  in  the 
ancient  classics,  in  French,  and  especially  the  best 
writers  in  English,  had  cultivated  his  taste  and  stored 
his  unfailing  memory  with  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  the 
wise  and  beautiful  thoughts  and  utterances  which  made 
his  conversation  peculiarly  instructive  and  interesting> 
never  tiresome,  and  always  fresh,  even  to  those  who 
had  lived  with  him  for  many  years.  Father  Murphy 
filled  the  office  of  vice-provincial  in  Missouri  from  1851 
to  1856;  he  performed  the  duties  of  his  position  effi- 
ciently, and  at  the  same  time  in  a  manner  highly  accept- 
able to  his  brethren. 

In  the  year  1853,  Rev.  J.  B.  Druyts,  president  of  the 
university,  with  the  concurrence  of  his  council,  decided 
to  begin  the  erection  of  ample  and  commodious  build- 
ings, fronting  on  Washington  Avenue,  which,  when  the 
plan  agreed  upon  was  executed,  would  furnish  all 
necessary  room,  at  the  same  time  that  it  would  possess 
a  becoming  style  of  beauty  and  grandeur.  This  build- 
ing was  to  extend  from  Ninth  Street  to  a  point  one 
hundred  and  thirty  feet  west  of  Tenth  Street.  The 
erection  of  the  east  wing  was  commenced  in  1853,  an<i 
it  was  finished  in  1855.  The  public  entrance  to  it  is  on 
Ninth  Street ;  the  building  is  sixty  feet  wide  by  a 
length  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  on  Washington 
Avenue.  It  is  three  stories  high,  the  first  and  second 
stories  being  each  sixteen  feet  in  the  clear,  arid  the  third 
being  thirty-five  feet.  The  first,  or  lowest  story,  contains 
the  students'  chapel  and  the  study-hall ;  the  second  con- 
tains the  library  and  museum ;  and  the  third  is  a  public 
exhibition  hall,  which  easily  seats  twelve  hundred  per- 
sons. It  is,  perhaps,  now  fortunate  that  the  magnifi- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  79 

cent  design,  of  which  this  east  wing  forms  only  a  part, 
was  not  afterwards  carried  out ;  for  the  subsequent  di- 
rection taken  by  the  city's  growth  has  since  resulted  in 
drawing  the  centre  of  business  to  the  neighborhood  of 
the  university,  thus  creating  a  necessity  for  its  removal, 
at  no  distant  day,  to  some  more  quiet  district  of  the 
city. 

In  the  year  1854,  St.  Xavier  College,  of  Cincinnati, 
ceased  to  be  a  boarding-school,  owing  to  insufficiency 
of  room,  the  vicinity  of  nuisances,  and  to  the  narrow- 
ness of  the  premises.  It  thenceforth  struggled  on  as  a 
small  day-school,  but  progressing  gradually  towards 
better  things,  till  the  session  of  1863-64,  when,  princi- 
pally through  the  energy  and  ability  of  Rev.  F.  P.  Gar- 
esche,  it  resumed  its  rank  as  a  first-class  college,  and 
from  that  time  to  the  present  it  has  enjoyed  uninter- 
rupted prosperity. 

The  progress  made  by  the  St.  Louis  University  in  the 
number  of  students,  during  the  period  which  this  narra- 
tive has  now  reached,  is  clearly  presented  in  the  follow- 
ing tabular  statement:  — 

Number  of 
Year.  Students  Registered. 

1851 218 

1852 266 

1853 29i 

1855 300 

1856 321 


CHAPTER    VII. 

1854—1861. 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  session  1854-55,  Rev.  J.  B. 
Druyts  was  succeeded  in  the  office  of  president  by  Rev. 
John  S.  Verdin;  yet  Father  Verdin  did  not  actually 
enter  upon  the  duties  of  his  new  position,  nor  was  his 
appointment  formally  announced,  till  October  2,  1854. 
While  affable  and  kind  to  all,  Father  Verdin  was  firm 
in  maintaining  collegiate  discipline ;  and  thus  he  won 
the  esteem  and  confidence  both  of  students  and  of 
professors.  During  his  term  in  office,  which  lasted  till 
the  year  1859,  the  institution  made  rapid  progress,  and 
at  the  same  time  all  things  went  on  peacefully,  and 
without  the  occurrence  of  any  disturbing  incident. 

In  the  autumn  of  1855,  there  was  the  largest  number 
of  boarders  at  the  university  there  were  ever  at  the  same 
time  in  the  establishment,  there  being  one  hundred  and 
eighty-eight ;  and  this,  despite  many  untoward  events 
in  the  Southern  States,  from  which  a  majority  of  the 
boarders  had  always  been  received.  The  yellow  fever 
epidemic  of  1855  was,  perhaps,  fully  as  virulent  as  it 
had  been  in  1853,  when  it  assumed  a  malignant  type 
that  was  new  to  the  most  experienced  physicians,  baf- 
fling the  best  skill  in  their  profession.  The  loss  of  life 
by  its  visitation  during  the  year  1855  was  very  great 
especially  in  New  Orleans  and  adjacent  cities,  in 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  in  Norfolk,  Virginia. 

(80) 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  8 1 

Among  the  victims  struck  down  by  the  terrible  de- 
stroyer that  year  was  Bishop  Van  de  Velde,  formerly 
president  of  the  St.  Louis  University ;  he  died  of  yel- 
low fever  at  Natchez,  Mississippi,  on  November  13, 

I855-1 

Not  even  at  any  subsequent  period  was  the  number 
of  boarders  in  the  St.  Louis  University  ever  so  great 
as  it  was  during  the  session  of  1855-56.  It  is  a  fact 
generally  observed  that,  perhaps  with  no  exception,  in 
all  Catholic  boarding-schools,  both  male  and  female, 
throughout  the  United  States,  the  number  of  boarders 
has  been  gradually  diminishing  for  many  years.  This 
change  may  be  accounted  for,  at  least  in  part,  by  in- 
creased facilities  for  education  in  better  local  schools 
than  formerly  existed ;  and  thus,  boarding-schools  being 
less  of  a  necessity,  are  also  less  in  public  favor  than  they 
once  were.  But,  while  the  number  of  boarders  at  the 
university,  after  reaching  its  highest,  thenceforth  de- 
clined somewhat,  on  the  other  hand,  the  number  of 
externs  increased  in  a  much  greater  proportion  dur- 
ing the  same  period. 

A  gloom  was  cast  over  the  entire  city  of  St.  Louis  by 
the  railroad  disaster  which  happened  on  November  i, 
1855,  when  a  numerous  party  of  citizens,  by  invitation, 
went  out  on  the  Missouri  Pacific  Railroad,  then  just  com- 
pleted to  a  point  beyond  the  Gasconade  River.  When 
the  train  was  on  the  approaches  to  the  bridge  over  that 
stream,  the  trestle-work  gave  way,  and  nearly  all  the 
cars  were  precipitated  to  the  declivity  of  the  banks  be- 
low, killing  more  than  thirty  persons,  and  wounding, 


1  His  remains  were  removed  to  St.  Stanislaus    Novitiate,  near  Floris- 
sant, Missouri,  and  there  reinterred  on  November  20,  1874. 

6 


82  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

more  or  less  seriously,  a  hundred.  Among  the  killed 
or  wounded  were  many  prominent  citizens,  and  of  these 
some  had  sons  then  at  the  St.  Louis  University.  Mr. 
Henry  Chouteau,  Capt.  O'Flaherty,  and  Dr.  Bullard 
were  of  those  who  lost  their  lives  by  this  sad  catas- 
trophe, and  were,  perhaps,  the  ones  most  generally 
known  to  the  public. 

In  November,  1855,  the  "Students'  Library  Society" 
was  instituted,  with  the  view  of  securing  a  collection  of 
suitable  works  on  branches  of  polite  learning,  which 
could  be  made  accessible  to  all  the  classes  on  easy  con- 
ditions. The  members  of  the  association  were  required 
to  pay  a  small  fee  for  the  right  of  using  the  books. 
This  library,  which  was  a  successful  undertaking  from 
its  very  beginning,  has  proved  to  be  a  boon,  especially 
for  the  more  advanced  classes  of  the  institution ;  and, 
despite  losses  by  the  wear  and  tear  of  twenty-four  years* 
time,  it  has  grown  to  be  a  large  and  well-selected  library 
of  the  standard  works  which  are  best  adapted  for  culti- 
vating taste  and  style  of  composition  in  youth,  and  at 
the  same  time  storing  their  minds  with  useful  knowledge 
on  many  learned  subjects. 

The  "  Philalethic  Literary  and  Debating  Society " 
was  first  organized  in  1832.  It  was  always  prosperous  ; 
it  always  was,  and  it  still  is,  a  means  of  developing  and 
cultivating  students  more  advanced  in  their  classes, 
which,  perhaps,  could  not  be  otherwise  supplied  at  all. 
In  1838,  the  "Philharmonic  Society"  was  begun  among 
the  students,  with  the  aim  of  developing  a  taste  for  the 
higher  style  of  music,  and  at  the  same  time  to  furnish 
the  young  performers  an  opportunity  of  acquiring  the 
art  of  music  under  the  direction  of  skilful  masters.  This 
society  also  fully  realized  its  object. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  83 

During  the  intervening  period  from  1832  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  various  other  societies  were  started  at  differ- 
ent dates  among  the  students,  and  had  a  temporary 
existence ;  but,  because  they  supplied  only  an  acci- 
dental and  passing  want,  they  ceased  to  exist  when  the 
reason  or  necessity  for  beginning  them  had  passed 
away.  But,  as  if  by  the  theory  of  "  natural  selection 
and  survival  of  the  fittest,"  only  the  three  societies 
above  named  and  described  have  permanently  en- 
dured, in  spite  of  all  contingencies  and  changing  cir- 
cumstances ;  whence  it  seems  to  follow  that  they 
supply  a  common  want,  and  are  a  necessary  means  of 
good  for  the  students  of  the  St.  Louis  University. 

On  July  6,  1856,  Rev.  William  S.  Murphy  retired 
from  the  office  of  vice-provincial,  which  he  had  filled 
from  August  15,  1851,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
J.  B.  Druyts.  Father  Druyts  made  it  a  chief  aim  of  his 
administration  to  educate  thoroughly  the  young  n>en 
destined  to  replace  the  older  ones,  then  soon  to  pass 
away,  and  he  spared  no  efforts  to  have  them  duly  cul- 
tivated in  those  sciences  and  those  virtues  which  would 
fit  them  to  perform  the  future  duties  awaiting  them  as 
professors  in  colleges,  missionaries,  and  pastors  of  con- 
gregations, to  the  best  advantage.  He  instituted  a  full 
course  of  study  for  them  in  the  scholasticate  on  "  Col- 
lege Hill,"  or  theological  department  of  St.  Louis  Uni- 
versity. This  was  an  important  step  forward  in  the 
work  of  advancing  the  vice-province  ;  and  so  completely 
did  he  imbue  the  minds  of  all  with  his  own  convictions 
concerning  what  was  the  wisest  and  best  for  the  inter- 
ests of  Jesuit  colleges  and  missions  in  the  West,  that  his 
undertaking  met  with  cordial  and  universal  cooperation, 
and  it  was  executed  in  succeeding  years  as  planned  by 


84  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

him.  Father  Druyts,  whether  as  president  of  the  uni- 
versity or  as  vice-provincial  of  Missouri,  had  the  rare 
gift  of  so  using  his  authority  as  both  to  secure  perfect 
government  of  the  charge  intrusted  to  him,  and  to  win 
the  heart  of  every  individual  person  subject  to  his  direc- 
tion or  control ;  and  it  is  extraordinary  for  one  exer- 
cising power  over  others  so  to  do  his  whole  duty  as 
yet  to  be  loved  by  every  one. 

As  already  stated  in  a  previous  chapter  of  this  sketch, 
a  farm  of  three  hundred  acres  was  bought  by  the  uni 
versity  in  1836,  with  a  view  of  moving  the  institution 
to  that  locality,  and  that  after  the  foundation  had  been 
dug  the  project  was  abandoned.  When  Father  Verdin 
became  president  of  the  university,  in  1854,  more  than 
half  of  this  farm,  now  within  the  limits  of  North  St. 
Louis,  had  been  sold.  Father  Verdin  divided  a  portion 
of  the  remainder  into  town  lots,  in  1855,  and  most  of 
them  were  subsequently  sold,  after  a  church  had  been 
erected  in  a  central  position,  which  was  completed  in 
1857.  Amid  the  groves  which  then  covered  a  portion 
of  this  land,  a  brick  house  three  stories  high  and  nearly  a 
hundred  feet  long  was  put  up  in  the  year  1857,  to  serve  as 
a  country  resort  for  students  and  professors,  especially 
during  the  oppressive  months  of  summer.  In  the  spring 
of  1858,  an  addition  was  made  to  this  house,  and  other 
buildings  were  erected,  with  a  view  of  placing  there  the 
theological  department  of  the  university,  or  the  scholas- 
ticate.  All  things  being  made  ready,  the  scholasticate 
was  begun  there  on  September  1 1,  1858,  with  four  profes- 
sors, Rev.  F.  X.  Wippern  being  the  superior.  Suitable 
cart-roads,  and  walks  for  the  students  and  professors,  were 
completed ;  the  young  men  set  out  ornamental  trees  in 
due  season,  and  laid  out  a  vegetable  and  flower  garden, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  85 

which  they  adorned  with  an  "  Indian  mound  "  at  its 
centre.  This  was  a  delightful  place  of  abode,  till  it  was 
encroached  on  by  rendering  establishments,  with  their 
"  two  and  seventy  stenches,  several  and  well  defined  ;  " 
and  by  foundries  and  rolling-mills,  whose  tall,  volcanic 
chimneys  loaded  the  air  with  black  clouds  of  suffocating 
bituminous  smoke. 

In  the  year  1857,  Bishop  O'Regan,  of  Chicago,1  Illi- 
nois, invited  the  Jesuits  of  Missouri  to  establish  a  house 
of  the  order  in  that  city.  In  compliance  with  his  wish, 
Father  Arnold  Damen  and  Father  Charles  Truyens 
were  sent  to  Chicago,  reaching  that  city  on  May  4, 
1857.  Father  Damen,  immediately  after  his  arrival, 
contracted  for  a  frame  church  and  residence,  to  be  built 
on  the  corner  May  and  Eleventh  Streets,  he  and  his 
companion  residing  with  Bishop  O'Regan  till  the  7th 
of  the  following  July.  The  corner-stone  for  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Family,  fronting  on  Twelfth  Street,  and 
east  of  May  Street,  was  blessed  by  Bishop  O'Regan  on 
August  25,  1857,  and  the  church  was  dedicated  by 
Bishop  Duggan  in  August,  1860,  Archbishop  Kenrick, 
of  St.  Louis,  preaching  in  the  English  language,  and 
Bishop  Henni,  of  Milwaukee,  preaching  in  German.  A 
brick  dwelling  was  built  on  the  corner  of  Twelfth  and 
May  Streets  in  1861  ;  on  September  24,  1867,  St.  Igna- 
tius College,  Chicago,  was  begun,  and  classes  were  first 
organized  therein  about  the  beginning  of  September, 


1  The  following  well-known  distich  may  occur  to  the  reader's  mind, 
but  what  it  conveys  does  not  always  hold  true  now  :  "  Bernardus  valles, 
monies  Benedictus  amabat;  Oppida,  Franciscus,  magnas  Ignatius 
urbes."  Bernard  preferred  the  valleys  ;  Benedict  the  high  lands  ;  Fran- 
cis loved  the  small  towns,  and  Ignatius  the  large  cities. 


86  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

1870,  under  the  general  direction  of  Rev.  John  S.  Verdin. 
The  eloquent  Father  Cornelius  Smarius  was  sent  to 
Chicago,  in  the  summer  of  1861,  to  aid  Father  Damen 
in  giving  missions.  These  missions  had  first  been  un- 
dertaken in  the  autumn  of  1857,  and  the  zealous  and  inde- 
fatigable Father  Damen,  with  a  number  of  assistants,  has 
continued  them  down  to  the  present  day,  or  for  twenty- 
two  years.  Some  estimate  of  the  work  done  by  Father 
Damen  and  companions  during  that  period  may  be  made 
from  the  results  accomplished.  Father  Damen  has  per- 
sonally conducted  208  missions,  averaging  two  weeks' 
time  for  each.  He  travelled,  on  an  average,  6,000 
miles  each  year;  or  during  the  twenty-two  years,  he 
travelled  132,000  miles.  He  and  his  different  bands 
of  companions,  together,  gave  2,800,000  communions 
within  the  twenty-two  years;  and  in  that  period  they 
made  12,000  conversions  to  the  faith.1 

It  will  serve  to  convey  a  still  more  comprehensive 
notion  of  the  work  actually  done  on  these  missionary 
journeys,  here  to  add  a  few  general  facts  as  to  what  has 
been  done  by  the  illustrious  Father  Weninger  during 
the  thirty-one  years  spent  by  him  almost  exclusively  in 
such  employment.  He  began  giving  missions  of  eight 
or  ten  days'  duration  to  German  congregations,  and  oc- 
casionally to  mixed  German  and  English  congregations, 
in  1848.  During  the  thirty-one  years  from  1848  to  the 
present  year,  1879,  he  conducted  over  eight  hundred 
missions,  preached  over  thirty  thousand  times,  giving  his 


1  At  a  mission  given  by  Rev.  John  Coghlan  and  his  associates,  at 
St.  Stephen's  Church,  New  York,  lasting  for  four  weeks,  during  the  past 
spring,  the  number  of  communions  given,  as  published  in  the  Catholic 
newspapers,  was  42,000. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  8/ 

sermons,  when  to  mixed  congregations,  both  in  English 
and  German.  The  number  of  communions  given  by  him 
at  each  mission  varied  from  three  hundred  to  one  thou- 
sand, and  the  number  of  conversions  to  the  faith  made 
by  him  during  that  period  was  between  two  and  three 
thousand.  He  travelled  through  all  parts  of  the  United 
States  to  give  these  missions,  journeying  a  total  distance 
of  over  two  hundred  thousand  miles.  In  all  that  time  his 
voice  never  failed  him,  and  in  all  his  journeying  he  never 
met  with  a  serious  accident.  By  these  results  we  may 
estimate  the  magnitude  of  the  work  done  by  this  mission- 
ary, who,  though  now  nearly  seventy-four  years  of  age, 
still  retains  both  the  vigor  of  his  health  and  the  freshness 
of  his  primitive  zeal  for  this  laudable  occupation. 

At  the  opening  of  the  session  1858-59  in  the  uni- 
versity, the  classical  course  and  the  commercial  course 
were  entirely  separated  from  each  other  and  assigned 
to  distinct  class-rooms,  and  distinct  teachers  were  ap- 
pointed for  them.  The  former  course  was  made  to 
comprise  six  classes,  or  six  years ;  and  the  latter,  four 
classes,  or  four  years.  It  was  also  arranged  that  the 
professor  in  each  class  should  teach  all  the  matter,  or 
all  the  branches  of  study,  assigned  to  that  class.  Ex- 
perience has  shown  that  this  plan  works  well,  in  practice, 
for  the  intermediate  and  lower  classes.  As  regards  the 
learner,  there  are  exceptional  cases  of  students  far  ad- 
vanced in  their  knowledge  of  English  and  mathematical 
branches  who  are  only  beginners  in  the  ancient  classics, 
and  they  must  be  provided  for  accordingly.  The  final 
examination  of  candidates  for  graduation  in  the  classical 
course  was  to  be  in  logic,  general  and  special  metaphys- 
ics, including  ethics  or  moral  philosophy,  and  the  higher 
mathematics.  Candidates  for  graduation  in  the  com- 


88  HISTORY   OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

mercial  course  were  to  be  examined  in  rhetoric,  elements 
of  logic  and  moral  philosophy,  algebra,  geometry,  sur- 
veying, chemistry,  and  physics,  including  astronomy. 
After  nearly  twenty  years  of  observation,  it  was 
found  expedient  and  advantageous  fora  certain  number 
of  young  men  in  the  commercial  course  to  give  them 
an  additional  year,  or  a  fifth  class,  in  which  they  might 
pursue  their  study  of  mathematics,  the  physical  sciences, 
logic,  general  and  special  metaphysics,  including  ethics 
or  moral  philosophy,  much  further;  and  it  seemed 
that  they  might  enjoy  the  advantage  of  attending  the 
lectures  and  discussions  in  the  class  of  philosophy,  which 
had  heretofore  been  limited  to  graduates  of  the  classical 
course.  Successful  examination  in  these  additional 
branches  of  higher  study  would  entitle  the  candidate 
to  the  degree  of  B.S.,  or  Bachelor  of  Science. 

This  fifth  class,  for  the  degree,  Bachelor  of  Science, 
was  first  introduced  into  the  course  of  study  at  the 
university  in  the  year  1877,  and  the  results  reached  by 
the  two  classes  that  have  now  finished  show  how 
exceedingly  greac  are  the  advantages  of  this  arrange- 
ment for  those  young  men  who  aspire  to  a  good  English 
education  without  study  of  the  ancient  classics. 

It  cannot  be  legitimately  doubted  by  the  learned 
scholar  that  the  mastering  of  the  best  Greek  and  Latin 
authors,  in  their  original  languages,  has  a  peculiar  effect 
in  refining  one's  literary  taste  and  elevating  its  stand- 
ard ;  nor  can  this  result  be  so  perfectly  accomplished 
without  the  aid  of  these  primitive  and  best  of  all  models. 
Neither  can  the  language  of  higher  learning,  or  of 
science,  as  clothed  in  the  cultivated  vernaculars  of 
modern  nations,  be  easily  or  even  thoroughly  mastered 
without  a  sufficient  acquaintance  with  the  tongues 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  89 

which  are  the  original  groundwork  of  nearly  all  scien- 
tific terminology. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  some  who  condemn  the 
study  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  on  the  alleged 
principle  of  conscience  that  they  are  ethnical,  or  pagan, 
and  they  may,  therefore,  taint  Christian  manners, 
especially  in  the  young.  This  opinion  seems  to  rest  on 
a  narrow  view  of  the  subject,  and  is,  perhaps,  when 
held  on  the  ground  of  conscience,  prompted  by  zeal 
that  is  not  according  to  knowledge  ;  indeed,  the  prac- 
tice which  has  been  prevalent  in  the  Christian  schools, 
from  the  earliest  ages,  of  reading  for  their  style  the 
poetry  of  Homer,  the  writings  of  Plato  and  Aristotle, 
the  speeches  and  essays  of  Cicero,  the  poems  of  Virgil, 
etc.,  is  not  at  all  the  thing  which  is  at  fault;  it  is  the 
theorizing  that  is  at  fault.1 

There  are  others  who  are  opposed  to  the  study  of  the 
ancient  classics,  with  less  inconsistency,  for  less  objec- 
tionable reasons  :  as,  first,  they  who  desire  only  that 
education  which  can  be  acquired  in  a  shorter  time; 
secondly,  those  who  are  to  pursue  the  walks  of  life  in 
which  a  good  English  education  will  answer  all  practi- 
cal purposes  ;  and,  finally,  those  who  believe  that  one 
can  acquire  perfect  education  without  the  ancient 
classics  or  the  dead  languages.  The  commercial  and 
scientific  courses  in  the  St.  Louis  University  were 


1  Some  account  will  be  given,  in  a  succeeding  chapter  of  this  volume, 
of  the  "  Ratio  Studiorum,"  or  "Plan  of  Studies,"  as  proposed  by  St 
Ignatius  Loyola,  in  the  rules  and  constitution  of  the  Jesuit  Society 
made  by  him.  The  method  of  teaching  proposed  by  him  directly 
regards  the  Latin  language,  the  only  learned  tongue  in  his  day ;  but 
it  is  capable  of  being  applied  as  well  to  instruction  in  any  cultivated 
language  of  the  present  time. 


90  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

designed  to  realize  these  ideals,  so  far  as  they  are  some- 
thing feasible.  It  is  sure  that  the  thoroughness  or 
perfection  of  mental  education  does  not  intrinsically,  or 
of  its  own  nature,  depend  on  the  knowing  of  Greek 
and  Latin  classics  in  their  original  languages  ;  but  it  is 
also  true,  as  the  experience  of  centuries  proves,  that 
thorough  study  of  the  ancient  classics  has,  as  a  fact, 
refining  effects  on  one's  literary  taste  and  style  which 
are  not  actually  produced  so  perfectly  by  any  other 
means  of  culture. 

On  March  19,  1859,  Rev.  Ferdinand  Coosemans  was 
installed  president  of  St.  Louis  University,  succeeding 
Father  Verdin,  who  was  afterwards  stationed  at  St. 
Joseph's  College,  Bardstown,  Kentucky. 

At  the  beginning  of  September,  1860,  the  scholas- 
ticate  was  transferred  from  College  Hill  to  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  owing  to  special  advantages  possessed 
at  that  time  by  Boston  College  for  the  conducting  of 
the  theological  and  philosophical  studies.  The  young 
men  and  their  professors  who  had  spent  two  years  at 
College  Hill,  then  just  beyond  the  northern  limits  of 
St.  Louis,  ever  afterwards  preserved  among  the  most 
pleasant  remembrances  of  their  lives  the  two  happy 
years  spent  by  them  at  that  spot,  then  embosomed  in 
shady  groves  and  gardens ;  but  now  bald,  bereft  of  all 
its  natural  charms,  and  environed  with  petty  factories. 

Shortly  after  the  beginning  of  1861,  Rev.  J.  B.  Druyts, 
vice-provincial  of  Missouri,  whose  health  had  long  been 
declining,  became  incapable  of  any  official  duty,  from 
softening  of  the  brain.  Early  in  February  of  that  year 
Rev.  William  S.  Murphy,  who  had  formerly  been  vice- 
provincial  of  Missouri,  from  1851  to  1856,  was  recalled 
to  the  West  from  New  Orleans,  where  he  was  then 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  9! 

residing,  to  resume  the  position  temporarily,  which  had 
already  been  held  by  him  in  Missouri,  until  the  regular 
appointment  of  Father  Druyts's  successor  could  be 
made.  Father  Murphy  retained  the  office  till  July. 
1862;  meanwhile,  Father  Druyts  lingered  till  June  18, 
1 86 1,  when  he  breathed  his  last. 

The  events  accompanying  the  presidential  election 
of  1860,  the  angry  debates  and  inflammatory  speeches  in 
the  national  Congress  which  afterwards  assembled,  left 
no  doubt  that  serious  troubles,  which  had  been  brewing 
for  a  number  of  years,  were  now  about  to  break  out 
into  open  violence.  It  had  long  been  foreseen  by  wise 
persons  that  the  existence  of  African  slavery  in  the 
United  States  was,  sooner  or  later,  to  test  the  durability 
of  the  American  Union.  The  sagacious  Father  Mur- 
phy had  predicted,  many  years  beforehand,  that  this 
war  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  States  was 
sooner  or  later  to  take  place.  In  1844,  when  a  mob  of 
lawless  ruffians,  instigated  by  fanatical  zealots,  burned 
the  churches  and  convents  of  Philadelphia,  some 
timorous  citizens  even  then  augured  revolution  as  cer- 
tainly to  ensue  in  the  near  future.  "  I  fear  no  disastrous 
consequences  to  the  nation,"  said  Father  Murphy, 
"  from  violence  of  this  kind,  since  it  will  be  emphatically 
condemned  by  all  good  citizens  throughout  the  land; 
but  if  the  Union  is  ever  to  be  dissolved,  it  is  far  more 
probable  that  it  will  result  from  that  civil  war  which 
must  ultimately  spring  from  the  difficulties  presented 
by  the  existing  slavery."  When  this  was  spoken,  Father 
Murphy  was  president  of  St.  Mary's  College,  in  Ken- 
tucky. 

This  war  actually  began,  in  the  spring  of  1861,  with 
an  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  in  Charleston  harbor.  For 


92  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

the  magnitude  and  strength  of  the  armies  engaged  in 
this  struggle  between  the  two  sections  of  the  country ; 
for  the  determination  with  which  both  parties  contin- 
ued the  deadly  contest;  for  the  consequences  of  the 
long  and  eventful  fight  for  victory,  —  by  which  the  entire 
military  art  itself,  if  not  revolutionized,  was  at  least 
greatly  modified,  —  no  war,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  the 
world  presents  a  parallel. 

The  effects  of  this  great  occurrence  in  the  United 
States  on  the  institutions  under  the  control  of  the  Mis- 
souri province  were  important,  and  some  of  them  per- 
manent. St.  Joseph's  College,  at  Bardstown,  Ken- 
tucky, was  closed  at  the  beginning  of  June,  1861,  in 
consequence  of  the  war.  Classes  were  resumed  in  the 
following  September,  but  the  number  of  students  was 
small,  from  the  fact  that  its  communication  with  the 
Southern  States  was  entirely  cut  off.  As  there  was  no 
security  against  straggling  bands  from  passing  armies 
and  marauding  guerrilla  parties,  the  students  remaining 
at  St.  Joseph's  College  were  transferred  by  Rev.  John 
S.  Verdin,  then  president  of  the  college,  to  the  St.  Louis 
University,  towards  the  end  of  December,  1861.  The 
Jesuit  fathers  never  again  organized  classes  at  St. 
Joseph's  College  ;  and,  as  heretofore  stated,  they  finally 
made  over  the  college  and  all  the  property  there  owned 
by  them  as  a  donation  to  the  Bishop  of  Louisville,  in 
December,  1868,  and  departed  from  that  diocese. 

After  the  Camp  Jackson  affair,  at  St.  Louis,  which 
happened  on  the  loth  of  May,  1861,  the  warlike  feeling 
in  St.  Louis,  and  throughout  Missouri,  daily  grew  more 
and  more  intense.  Many  of  the  students  at  the  uni- 
versity were  from  the  Southern  States ;  the  excitement 
among  them,  and  thei  impatience  to  get  home  before 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  93 

it  was  too  late  to  cross  the  military  lines,  suggested  the 
expediency  of  allowing  them  to  depart  about  the  end 
of  April.  All  the  classes  were  suspended,  and  the 
remaining  students  were  started  home  to  their  parents 
and  guardians  on  May  24th,  excepting  a  small  number 
who  preferred  not  to  leave  the  university. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

1861  —  1871. 

DURING  the  session  which  was  prematurely  closed  May 
24,  1 86 1,  on  account  of  the  civil  war,  there  were  at  the 
St.  Louis  University  sixty-three  students  from  the 
Southern  States,  most  of  them  being  from  Louisiana. 
During  the  next  session,  1861-62,  there  were  only  nine 
students  registered  as  coming  from  the  Southern  States, 
and  several  of  these  had  remained  at  the  close  of  the 
preceding  session  only  because  unable  to  communicate 
with  their  parents.  A  large  proportion  of  the  boarders 
were  from  the  Southern  States,  at  all  times  anterior  to 
the  civil  war  of  1861-65  5  and  this  was  true  of  most 
Catholic  boarding-schools,  both  male  and  female.  A 
marked  change  has  taken  place  since  the  war,  owing  to 
losses  caused  by  that  long  and  ruinous  struggle.  Few 
Southern  families  have  been  able  since  its  termination 
to  send  their  children  to  boarding-schools,  as  they 
did  formerly.  On  this  account,  and  partly  from  the 
multiplication  of  good  day-schools  in  the  cities  and 
smaller  towns  throughout  the  nation,  the  number  of 
boarders  in  all  such  institutions  has  been  gradually  but 
steadily  diminishing,  down  to  the  present  period.  In 
the  early  days  of  the  St.  Louis  University  the  number 
of  extern  students,  or  "  day-scholars,"  was  small,  and 
they  occupied  separate  apartments  from  the  boarders. 
The  case  has  become  very  different  in  recent  times; 
(94) 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  95 

full  t \vo-thirds  of  the  students,  all  counted,  are  now 
externs. 

Rev.  J.  B.  Druyts,  vice-provincial  of  Missouri,  died 
Tuesday,  June  18,  1861,  at  the  St.  Louis  University, 
aged  fifty  years.  It  was  on  the  previous  day,  or  June 
I /th,  that  a  regiment  of  raw  recruits  for  the  army,  while 
passing  a  crowd  of  laboring  men  collected  on  a  vacant 
lot  east  of  Ninth  Street,  between  Morgan  Street  and 
Christy  Avenue,  where  the  mayor  was  to  meet  them 
and  give  them  work,  was  seized  with  a  panic,  and  after 
reaching  the  corner  of  Seventh  and  Olive  Streets,  fired 
their  muskets  on  the  people  who  had  gathered  there 
out  of  curiosity.  This  occurrence  served  still  further 
to  exasperate  public  feeling  in  St.  Louis  against  the 
army  and  its  commanders. 

Classes  were  resumed  at  the  university  in  the  follow- 
ing September,  but  the  number  of  students  was  reduced 
much  below  what  it  had  been  during  previous  years, 
owing  to  the  circumstance  that  the  "border  States" 
already  at  that  early  period  of  the  war  were  overrun 
by  vast  armies;  and  the  struggle  itself  was  one  which 
there  caused  confusion  and  division,  even  in  many  pri- 
vate families,  some  of  their  members  sympathizing  with 
one  side,  and  others  favoring  the  opposite  side  in  the 
contest.  St.  Louis  was  placed  under  the  government 
of  provost-marshals ;  the  main  approaches  to  the  city 
had  rifle-pits,  breastworks,  and  the  like,  commanding 
them.  At  a  later  date,  a  numerous  army  was  encamped 
around  the  Fair  Grounds,  and  on  the  lands  of  the  St. 
Louis  University,  extending  to  the  Bellefontaine  Road. 
The  professors,  including  priests,  were  subjected  to  the 
military  draft,  and  several  of  them  got  notice  that  the 
lot  had  fallen  on  them  for  service  in  the  army.  But, 


g6  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

principally  through  the  influence  of  Father  De  Smet, 
the  secretary  of  war,  Mr.  Stanton,  so  far  respected 
their  unwillingness  and  their  unfitness  for  public  duties 
of  the  kind  as  to  grant  them  indefinite  furloughs. 

On  July  16,  1862,  Rev.  Ferdinand  Coosemans  was 
appointed  vice-provincial  of  Missouri ;  Rev.  Thomas 
O'Neil  succeeded  him  as  president  of  the  university. 
The  session  of  1862-63  began  with  an  increased  num- 
ber of  students,  despite  the  evils  and  disasters  of  the 
time,  which  had  caused  the  institution  the  loss  of  all  its 
Southern  patronage.1  The  annual  commencement 
which  terminated  that  session  took  place  July  2,  1863; 
on  that  occasion  three  students  received  their  degree 
of  A.B.,  or  Bachelor  of  Arts,  and  four  received  honorary 
certificates  for  completion  of  the  commercial  course. 
The  total  number  of  students  registered  for  that  scho- 
lastic year  was  two  hundred  and  ninety. 

In  the  spring  of  1864,  a  building  for  class-rooms  was 
begun,  and  it  was  made  ready  for  occupancy  by  the 
following  autumn.  It  is  four  stories  high,  is  eighty 
feet  by  forty  feet  in  dimensions,  and  it  contains  ten 
ample  and  commodious  class-rooms,  a  dormitory  in  the 
fourth  story,  and  the  Philalethic  Hall  in  the  third  story. 
This  building  faces  eastward  on  Ninth  Street,  and  thus 
the  main  front  of  the  institution  was  finally  determined 
to  that  street,  instead  of  Washington  Avenue,  as  con- 
templated in  the  plan  of  1853. 

The  vice-province  of  Missouri  was  elevated  to  the 
rank  of  a  province  December  3,  1863.  It  began  as  a 
mission  attached  to  Maryland  in  1823,  which  condition 


1  The  news  that  Vicksburg  had  been  taken  was  finally  confirmed  on 
July  7,  1863. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  gj 

it  retained  till  February  24,  1831,  when  it  ceased  to  be 
subject  to  Maryland,  and  became  immediately  subject 
to  the  general's  authority.  On  December  24,  1839,  it 
was  erected  into  a  vice-province,  and,  as  said,  it  became 
a  province  December  3,  1863.  At  this  last  date,  or  at 
the  end  of  1863,  there  were  belonging  to  the  Jesuit 
Society  in  Missouri  one  hundred  and  ninety-three 
members. 

In  1865  a  State  Convention,  holding  its  meetings  in 
St.  Louis,  drew  up  a  new  Constitution,  which  was  after- 
wards adopted  by  a  vote  of  the  people.  This  Constitu- 
tion was  subsequently  called,  among  the  people,  "  the 
Drake  Constitution,"  from  the  circumstance  that  its 
most  remarkable  provisions  were  originated  by  Charles 
D.  Drake,  who  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Con- 
vention that  framed  it.  While  devised  with  the  view  of 
crushing  out  obnoxious  political  adversaries,  it  also  had 
for  its  aim,  as  avowed  by  its  principal  author  in  his 
speeches  before  the  Convention,  to  do  away  with  Cath- 
olic churches  and  institutions  by  means  of  oppressive 
measures.  It  imposed  a  heavy  burden  of  taxes  on 
churches,  schools,  hospitals,  orphan  asylums,  and  even 
on  the  graves  of  the  dead.1  The  tax  paid  by  St.  Louis 
University  on  its  buildings,  church,  and  grounds  for  one 
year  reached  the  total  sum  of  $10,000.  The  Legislature 
having  subsequently  empowered  the  city  to  remit  gen- 
eral municipal  taxes  on  all  such  property,  the  univer- 
sity was  at  once  relieved  of  a  burden  under  whose 


1  This  harsh  style  of  constitutional  legislation  was  strenuously  opposed 
at  the  time  by  Dr.  M.  L.  Linton,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Convention, 
but  his  reasoning  in  favor  of  moderation  was  lost  on  that  body,  the 
majority  of  whose  members  were  swayed  not  by  argument,  but  by 
passion. 

7 


98  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

weight  it  must  otherwise  have  sunk.  This  now  in- 
famous "  Drake  Constitution,"  the  work  of  a  spirit 
evoked  to  the  surface  in  evil  times  to  rule  for  its  day, 
was  finally  abolished  altogether,  by  a  large  popular  vote 
on  October  30,  1875. 

After  the  surrender  of  the  Southern  armies,  in  the 
spring  of  1865,  and  the  murder  of  President  Lincoln, 
on  Good  Friday  night,  in  a  theatre  at  Washington  City, 
the  more  exciting  events  of  this  dark  period  at  last 
ended  with  the  cruel  execution  of  Mrs.  Surratt  and  the 
impeachment  of  President  Johnson.  Then  the  blessings 
of  peace  gradually  returned  to  the  nation.  This  change 
to  a  better  state  of  things  restored  to  the  university  its 
pristine  prosperity,  the  number  of  students  registered 
for  the  scholastic  year  1865-66  being  three  hundred 
and  seventy-six.  At  the  annual  commencement  of 
1866,  two  candidates  received  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  the 
classical  course,  and  seven  won  the  honorary  certificate 
for  completion  of  the  commercial  course. 

Towards  the  end  of  July,  1866,  there  were  a  few  spo- 
radic cases  of  Asiatic  cholera  in  some  of  the  crowded 
and  less  cleanly  districts  of  St.  Louis,  and  about  the 
same  time  its  presence  was  manifested  in  other  Western 
cities.  It  reached  its  greatest  violence  this  year  about 
the  middle  of  August,  its  aggravated  symptoms  showing 
it  to  be  of  a  malignant  and  deadly  type,  and  the  ratio 
of  deaths  among  those  attacked  by  it  this  year  was 
fully  as  great  as  it  had  been  in  1849.  There  was  no 
case  of  the  disease  at  the  university,  though  all  the 
priests  attended  the  sick  and  dying,  by  day  and  by 
night,  —  an  exemption  from  the  dreadful  scourge  like 
to  that  with  which  the  institution  had  twice  before  been 
blessed,  namely,  in  1832  and  in  1849. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  99 

At  the  termination  of  the  scholastic  year,  on  June 
26,  1867,  the  degree  of  A.M.,  or  Master  of  Arts,  was 
conferred  on  three  gentlemen  who  had  formerly  been 
students  of  the  university;  the  degree  of  A.B.  was  con- 
ferred on  four  candidates  for  graduation,  and  eleven 
received  the  testimonial  given  at  the  completion  of  the 
commercial  course. 

Property  on  Grand  Avenue,  between  Lindell  and 
Baker  Avenues,  was  purchased  by  the  university,  May 
25,  1867,  with  a  view  of  removing  the  institution  ulti- 
mately to  that  locality.  Though  the  expense  of  carry- 
ing out  such  an  undertaking,  which  would  necessarily 
be  great,  and  fear  of  the  risk  to  be  incurred,  have  thus 
far  caused  hesitancy  and  delay  in  taking  the  step,  yet 
each  additional  year  seems  to  make  the  reasons  for  the 
change  both  more  manifest  and  more  cogent.  This 
property  on  Grand  Avenue  that  has  been  secured  for 
the  purpose  is  four  hundred  and  forty-six  feet  on  Grand 
Avenue  by  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet  on  Lindell 
Avenue,  and  the  price  paid  for  it  was  fifty-two  thousand 
six  hundred  dollars  ($5  2,600).  The  great  advantage  to  be 
sacrificed  by  abandoning  the  present  position  occupied 
by  the  university  is,  that  it  is  near  the  point  in  the  city 
towards  which  all  the  street-car  lines  converge,  and  it  is 
thereby  made  easy  of  access  to  people  living  in  all 
districts  of  the  city.  Notwithstanding  this  considera- 
tion, the  establishment  will  be  transferred  to  a  spot 
more  eligible,  in  view  of  other  advantages,  whenever 
arrangements  for  executing  the  design  can  be  clearly 
perfected. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  session  of  1867-68,  which 
took  place  June  25,  1868,  the  register  for  that  scho- 
lastic year  contained  three  hundred  and  forty-six  names 


100  HISTORY    OF   THE   ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

of  students.  Four  young  gentlemen  received  the  de- 
gree of  A.M. ;  there  was  no  candidate  that  session  for 
the  degree  of  A.B.  Testimonials  for  completion  of 
the  commercial  course  were  conferred  on  thirteen  can- 
didates for  the  honor. 

On  June  30,  1868,  a  provincial  congregation,  com- 
posed of  professed  members  belonging  to  the  Jesuit 
province  of  Missouri,  met  at  the  St.  Louis  University, 
and  it  was  the  first  time  that  such  congregation  was 
ever  convoked  in  the  province  of  Missouri.  These 
provincial  congregations  have  no  legislative  authority ; 
they  are  purely  consultorial,  and  they  choose  a  repre- 
sentative whose  title  is  procurator  of  the  province,  who 
is  deputed  to  bear  a  report  of  their  proceedings  to  the 
general  of  the  society;  they  can  demand  that  a  general 
congregation,  having  authority  over  the  whole  society, 
be  convened,  if  they  judge  such  assembly  of  its  chief 
members  to  be  necessary.  The  sessions  of  this  congre- 
gation concluded  on  July  2d,  on  which  day  Rev.  Francis 
H.  Stuntebeck  was  installed  president  of  St.  Louis  Uni- 
versity, to  succeed  Rev.  Thomas  O'Neil,  who  had  re- 
tired. 

Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen,  who  was  prevented  by  sickness 
from  attending  the  provincial  congregation,  died  at  St. 
Charles,  Missouri,  on  July  21,  1868,  having  just  com- 
pleted the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  Father  Ver- 
haegen had  filled  many  distinguished  positions  in  the 
mission  and  vice-province  of  Missouri ;  he  was  the  first 
president  of  the  university ;  the  first  president  of  St. 
Joseph's  College,  at  Bardstown,  Kentucky,  after  it 
passed  under  control  of  the  Jesuits,  in  1848;  he  was 
superior  of  the  Missouri  mission  from  1836  to  1839; 
was  the  first  vice-provincial  of  Missouri;  and  in  1844 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  IOI 

he  was  made  provincial  of  Maryland,  which  office 
he  filled  till  the  spring  of  1848.  Father  Verhaegen  was 
one  of  the  original  colony  from  Maryland,  that  came 
to  begin  the  Jesuit  mission  of  Missouri  in  the  spring 
of  1823.  He  was  the  best  educated  of  all  the  young 
men,  and  on  that  account  he  was  their  chief  guide  in 
their  study  of  philosophy  and  dogmatic  theology. 
It  was  he,  mainly,  that  planned  and  perfected  the  first 
organization  of  the  "  St.  Louis  College,"  a  name  that 
was  changed  to  that  of  the  "  St.  Louis  University," 
when  the  institution  obtained  its  charter  from  the  State 
Legislature,  in  1832.  As  a  teacher,  Father  Verhaegen 
had  all  those  qualities  which  make  one  successful  in 
conveying  his  knowledge  to  others.  He  had  read 
instructive  books  extensively,  and  he  possessed  an  in- 
exhaustible store  of  general  knowledge  on  nearly  all 
learned  subjects.  His  varied  accomplishments  rendered 
him  a  pleasing  and  an  interesting  lecturer,  whether  in 
the  college  hall  or  before  the  miscellaneous  public. 
His  sermons  in  the  pulpit  were  earnest,  clear,  and  prac- 
tical ;  his  kindly  and  generous  character  caused  every 
one  to  regard  him  as  a  friend,  and  hence  all  that  knew 
him  loved  him.  His  wit  and  vivacity,  joined  to  his 
extensive  learning ;  his  imposing  figure,  his  happy 
power  of  conversation,  quickly  made  him  the  centre  of 
every  circle,  whether  duty  led  him  to  travel  on  the 
steamboat,  to  converse  at  the  hotel,  or  to  treat  with  any 
gathering  of  persons.  But  he  never  failed,  on  any  occa- 
sion when  his  office  or  civility  carried  him  into  the 
society  of  laymen,  to  mingle  with  the  subjects  of  his 
conversation  the  wholesome  truths  of  religion  which  it 
was  his  vocation  to  teach. 

There  were  three  hundred  and  forty-six  students  reg- 
istered for  the  session  of  1868-69;  °f  this  number  one 


IO2  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

hundred  and  six  were  in  the  classical  course;  the  re- 
maining two  hundred  and  forty  were  in  the  commercial 
course  or  in  the  preparatory  classes.  At  the  termina- 
tion of  the  scholastic  year,  June  24,  1869,  one  young 
gentleman  received  the  degree  of  A.M.,  five  candidates 
received  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  the  classical  course,  and 
twenty  received  their  diplomas  in  the  commercial 
course.  Early  in  the  year  1869,  the  trustees  of  the  uni- 
versity decided  that  it  was  necessary  to  take  steps  for 
moving  the  boarders  at  the  institution  to  a  suitable 
locality  in  the  country,  and  at  some  distance  from  the 
city.  Various  spots  in  Missouri,  on  the  different  rail- 
roads diverging  from  St.  Louis,  were  visited,  with  a 
view  of  selecting  a  desirable  site  for  the  proposed 
boarding-school ;  and  the  one  finally  chosen  was  that 
now  known  as  "  College  View,"  nine  miles  from  the 
city,  and  on  the  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City,  and  Northern 
Railway.  It  is  a  farm,  containing  three  hundred  and 
seventy-six  acres,  and  it  cost  $76,000.  Plans  for 
an  extensive  establishment  were  subsequently  made 
out,  at  an  expense  of  $7,500.  But  before  all  ar- 
rangements were  completed  for  actually  beginning 
work  on  the  buildings,  it  was  ascertained  that  the  rail- 
way company  had  determined  to  make  a  deflection  of 
their  road  from  Ferguson  Station,  two  miles  beyond 
"  College  View,"  so  as  to  enter  the  city  at  the  Union 
Depot,  thus  leaving  the  situation  chosen  for  the  new 
boarding-school  deprived  of  proper  communication  with 
the  city.  The  design  of  building  at  that  place  was 
thereupon  abandoned  altogether,  and  the  whole  project 
of  a  college  in  the  country  was,  for  the  time  being, 
indefinitely  postponed. 

Woodstock  College,  Maryland,  was  solemnly  inaugu- 
rated  by  Rev.  Joseph   E.   Keller,    then    provincial   of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  IO3 

Maryland,  on  September  23,  1869.  This  institution  is 
designed  for  the  education  of  the  young  Jesuits  who 
are  afterwards  to  be  employed  in  the  colleges,  missions, 
and  other  works  conducted  by  the  society  throughout 
the  United  States.  They  are  there  carried  through  a 
thorough  course  of  philosophy,  physical  science,  mathe- 
matics, theology,  etc.,  with  a  view  of  preparing  them  for 
all  priestly  ministrations,  and  for  teaching  the  higher 
branches  of  learning  in  the  different  colleges.  The 
Jesuit  provinces  and  missions  of  the  United  States 
unite  to  sustain  this  common  scholasticate,  both  for  the 
sake  of  economy  and  for  the  advantages  of  more  sys- 
tematic and  perfect  training  of  their  young  members. 
The  average  number  sent  each  year  from  the  province 
of  Missouri  is  thirty. 

Towards  the  end  of  December,  1869,  St.  Mary's  Col- 
lege, Kansas,  was  incorporated  under  a  general  law  of 
the  State,  and  with  the  rights  and  immunities  then  con- 
ceded to  such  institutions  of  learning.  The  Pottawato- 
mie  tribe  of  Indians  having  sold  their  reservation  on 
the  Kansas  or  Kaw  River,  and  the  Kansas  Pacific  Rail- 
road having  been  extended  through  it,  the  white  popu- 
lation was  already,  in  1869,  rapidly  filling  the  fertile 
"Kaw  Valley"  with  the  activity  and  prosperity  of  a 
civilized  community.  During  the  following  spring  and 
summer  a  large  four-story  brick  building  was  erected 
for  college  purposes,  and  immediately  after  its  com- 
pletion it  was  occupied  by  a  numerous  boarding-school.1 
The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  during  the  same 


1  St.  Mary's  College,  Kansas,  was  destroyed  by  fire  at  noonday,  on 
February  3,  1879,  and  there  was  no  insurance  on  it.  On  April  10,  1879, 
at  eleven  o'clock,  P.  M.,  the  stables,  together  with  twenty-three  horses, 
were  destroyed  by  fire  ;  on  this  property  there  was  no  insurance. 


IO4  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

year,  erected  an  academy  equally  large.  As  before 
related,  the  Indians  had  been  transferred  by  the 
United  States  government  from  Sugar  Creek,  near  the 
Missouri  border,  to  this  locality  in  1848.  When  the 
white  settlers  commenced  to  encroach  on  their  hunting- 
grounds,  in  1 86 1,  they  were  induced  to  sell  their 
reservation,  with  a  view  of  going,  at  a  later  period,  to 
the  Indian  Territory  ;  and  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railroad 
first  reached  St.  Mary's  Mission  in  1866.  Only  a  por- 
tion of  the  Pottawatomies  went  to  the  Indian  Territory, 
bands  of  them  wandering  off  in  various  directions; 
and  the  tribe  is  in  danger  of  losing  its  autonomy, 
and  its  beautiful  language  is  likely  soon  to  be  extin- 
guished. 

At  the  St.  Louis  University,  the  register  for  the  year 
ending  June  30,  1870,  contained  the  names  of  two  hun- 
dred and  ninety-seven  students;  the  degree  of  A.M. 
was  conferred  on  three  young  gentlemen,  that  of  A.B. 
on  seven,  and  diplomas  were  conferred  on  eight  candi- 
dates in  the  commercial  department.  During  the  year 
ending  June  29,  1871,  there  were  three  hundred  and 
seventeen  students ;  at  the  annual  commencement,  five 
candidates  received  the  degree  of  A.B.,  and  eight  re- 
ceived diplomas  in  the  commercial  department. 

The  conductors  of  St.  Xavier  College,  Cincinnati,  at 
the  opening  of  the  session  1870—71,  introduced  an  addi- 
tional class,  or  prolonged  the  course  of  study  then  pur- 
sued by  one  year ;  and  the  divisions  of  the  course  were 
thenceforth  designated  according  to  a  different  system 
of  nomenclature.  The  classical  course  was  made  to 
comprise  two  departments,  —  first,  the  collegiate,  in- 
cluding philosophy,  rhetoric,  poetry,  and  humanities; 
second,  the  academic,  including  three  grammar  classes, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  10$ 

styled  first  academic,  second  academic,  and  third  aca- 
demic. 

The  classical  course  in  the  St.  Louis  University  com- 
prises six  classes,  each  requiring  a  year  for  its  comple- 
tion; they  are  styled  philosophy,  rhetoric,  poetry,  first, 
second,  and  third  humanities. 

The  non-Catholic  colleges  in  the  United  States  gen- 
erally divide  their  course  of  corresponding  studies  into 
four  classes,  —  the  "  freshmen,"  or  novices  ;  the  "  sopho- 
mores," a  term  of  uncertain  etymology,  imported  from 
Cambridge  University,  England,  where  it  is  now  in  dis- 
use;  "juniors,"  and  "seniors."  These  institutions  re- 
quire preparatory  studies  as  a  condition  to  be  fulfilled 
before  candidates  are  admitted  into  their  regular 
courses. 

The  term  "humanity,"  "humanities"  (Jmmaniora), 
according  to  its  generally  received  and  most  proper 
meaning,  signifies  polite  learning,  under  which  are  in- 
cluded rhetoric,  poetry,  and  grammar.  Therefore,  it  is 
not  a  strictly  correct  use  of  the  term  either  to  style 
grammar  "  humanities,"  as  contradistinguished  from 
rhetoric  and  poetry,  or  to  style  poetry  "  humanities," 
so  as  to  exclude  from  its  comprehension  rhetoric  and 
grammar,  for  "  humanities  "  includes  all  those  branches 
of  polite  learning.  In  the  St.  Louis  University,  since 
"grammar"  classes  are  taught  both  in  the  classical 
course  and  in  the  commercial  course,  —  one  being  Greek 
and  Latin,  and  the  other  being  English,  —  the  term  "  hu- 
manities "  is  arbitrarily  limited  to  the  grammar  classes 
of  the  classical  course,  and  the  corresponding  classes  of 
the  commercial  courses  are  styled  grammar  classes. 
These  names  are  thus  applied  in  order  to  avoid  confu- 
sion arising  from  distinct  classes  having  the  same  names. 


IO6  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

Some  other  institutions  resort  to  a  like  unscholarly  use 
of  the  term  "humanities,"  in  order  to  avoid  ambiguity 
of  language  or  misconception  of  things,  by  applying  the 
term  exclusively  to  the  class  or  division  of  studies  usu- 
ally styled  "  poetry."  This  is  done  in  such  institutions 
because  the  term  "  poetry  "  expresses  only  one  subject 
or  branch  taught  in  the  class  so  called,  whereas  the 
simple  elements  of  rhetoric,  easier  species  of  prose  com- 
position, together  with  style  and  higher  grammar,  are 
also  taught  in  that  class. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

1871  — 1878. 

ON  July  31,  1871,  Rev.  Thomas  O'Neil  succeeded 
Rev.  Ferdinand  Coosemans  as  provincial  of  Missouri, 
Father  Coosemans  having  filled  the  office  for  nine 
years.  He  had  governed  with  much  practical  good 
sense  and  administrative  ability,  though  he  was  more 
remarkable  for  piety  and  humility  than  for  brilliancy  of 
mind  or  extent  of  learning.  Father  Coosemans  was 
kind  and  just  as  a  superior,  and,  therefore,  he  was  both 
loved  and  respected.  His  sermons  in  the  pulpit  and 
his  familiar  instructions  were  earnest,  pious,  and  impres- 
sive. During  his  long  term  in  office  the  province  of 
Missouri  grew  much,  both  in  the  number  of  its  mem- 
bers and  in  the  magnitude  and  usefulness  of  its  works. 
Father  Coosemans  died  at  St.  Ignatius  College, 
Chicago,  on  February  7,  1878,  aged  fifty-five  years. 

Rev.  Joseph  Zealand  was  installed  president  of  the 
St.  Louis  University  on  August  8,  1871,  succeeding 
Rev.  F.  H.  Stuntebeck.  The  names  of  the  students 
registered  for  the  session  1871-72  show  a  remarkable 
increase  of  the  number  over  that  of  any  former  session, 
there  being  a  total  of  four  hundred  and  two.  At  the 
annual  commencement,  June  27,  1872,  one  young  gen- 
tleman received  the  degree  of  A.M.,  five  received  the 
degree  of  A.B.,  and  seventeen  received  their  diplomas 
in  the  commercial  department. 


108  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

Six  of  the  young  Jesuits  accompanying  Rev.  Charles 
Van  Quickenborne  to  Missouri,  in  1823,  had  first 
entered  the  society  as  novices  at  White  Marsh,  Mary- 
land, on  October  6,  1821  ;  they  were  P.  J.  Verhaegen, 
J.  F.  Van  Assche,  P.  J.  De  Smet,  J.  A.  Elet,  J.  B. 
Smedts,  F.  L.  Verreydt.  As  the  6th  of  October,  1871, 
was  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  their  entrance  into  the 
Jesuit  Society,  it  was  determined  by  the  president  and 
the  faculty  of  the  St.  Louis  University  to  commemo- 
rate in  a  becoming  manner  the  occurrence  of  their 
"golden  jubilee,"  and  to  invite  the  survivors  among 
those  pioneers  to  meet  for  the  purpose  at  the  St.  Louis 
University.  This  tribute  to  their  memory  from  the 
university  was  deemed  appropriate,  because  they,  with 
their  novice  master,  Rev.  Charles  Van  Quickenborne, 
had  established  the  institution,  their  first  important 
work  after  founding  the  mother  house,  near  Florissant; 
and  they,  too,  were  the  first  officers  and  professors  of 
the  university.  The  only  members  of  the  original  band 
who  were  then  living  were  Rev.  P.  J.  De  Smet,  absent 
at  the  time  in  Europe  collecting  funds  for  the  Indian 
missions,  Rev.  J.  F.  Van  Assche,  and  Rev.  F.  L.  Ver- 
reydt.1 From  the  circumstance  that  the  6th  of  October, 
in  the  year  1871,  came  near  the  end  of  the  week,  and 
on  that  account  was  an  inconvenient  day  for  those  liv- 
ing at  other  institutions  to  leave  home,  the  celebration 
was  transferred  to  Tuesday,  October  loth,  the  feast  of 


1  Brother  Peter  De  Meyer,  who  had  come  to  the  United  States  with 
Rev.  Charles  Nerinckx,  the  illustrious  missionary  of  Kentucky,  in  the 
year  1817,  \\asalso  still  alive;  but  he  was  too  feeble,  under  the  weight  of 
age,  —  exceeding  four  score,  —  to  take  any  share  in  the  observance  of  this 
happy  occasion.  Brother  De  Meyer  died,  full  of  days  and  merit,  on 
September  I,  1878,  at  the  mother  house,  St.  Stanislaus  Novitiate. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  IOO, 

St.  Francis  Borgia.  Many  of  the  other  members  from 
the  different  houses  of  the  province  were  present  on 
the  appointed  day,  principal  among  them  being  Fathers 
Van  Assche  and  Verreydt,  whom  the  rest  met  to 
honor.  The  party  from  Chicago  left  that  city  for  St. 
Louis  on  Sunday  evening,  October  8,  1871  ;  and  it  was 
shortly  after  their  departure  from  the  depot  in  Chicago, 
or  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  that  the  terrible  fire 
broke  out  which  raged  all  that  night  and  throughout  the 
next  day,  destroying  the  finest  portion  of  the  city. 
The  fathers  coming  from  Chicago  first  learned  news 
of  this  remarkable  disaster  only  after  reaching  St.  Louis, 
next  morning;  and  on  that  same  day  two  of  the  num- 
ber,—  Father  Verdin  and  Father  Oakley,  —  returned 
by  the  evening  train  to  Chicago,  in  order  to  render 
such  assistance  as  might  be  in  their  power  to  sufferers 
by  the  calamity. 

As  mentioned  above,  the  only  original  pioneers  of 
the  province  present  on  the  occasion  were  Father  Ver- 
reydt and  Father  Van  Assche  ;  and  at  this  writing,  June 
10,  1879,  the  venerable  Father  Verreydt  still  survives, 
the  only  one  now  remaining  this  side  of  the  grave,  and 
he  is  in  the  eighty-second  year  of  his  age.  At  ten 
o'clock,  A.  M.,  Tuesday,  October  loth,  there  was  a  solemn 
High  Mass,  the  Rev.  Father  Van  Assche  being  cele- 
brant, with  the  aged  Fathers  Helias  and  Busschotts  as 
deacon  and  sub-deacon,  Father  Verreydt,  with  many  of 
his  Jesuit  brethren,  being  in  the  sanctuary.  Among 
those  in  the  sanctuary,  the  following  were  named  by 
the  newspapers  of  the  following  day:  Rev.  Thomas 
O'Neil,  provincial  of  Missouri;  Rev.  Joseph  Zealand, 
president  of  St.  Louis  University ;  Rev.  F  Coosemans, 


I  IO  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

late  provincial ;  Rev.  L.  Bushart,  president  of  St.  Xavier 
College,  Cincinnati;  Rev.  Isidore  Boudreaux,  novice 
master;  Rev.  F.  H.  Stuntebeck,  late  president  of  St. 
Louis  University;  Rev.  J.  De  Blieck  and  Rev.  J. 
Schultz,  of  the  Holy  Family  Church,  Chicago ;  Rev.  S. 
Lalumiere,  of  St.  Gall's  Church,  Milwaukee ;  Rev.  J. 
Roes,  of  St.  Charles,  Missouri ;  Rev.  P.  Tschieder  and 
Rev.  D.  Niederkorn,  of  St.  Joseph's  Church,  St.  Louis  ; 
Rev.  William  Niederkorn,  of  Westphalia,  Missouri; 
Rev.  F.  Braun,  of  Washington,  Missouri. 

At  a  convenient  hour  in  the  evening  all  assembled  in 
the  university  library,  where  a  collation  had  been 
spread  for  the  venerable  guests  and  their  friends.  An 
interesting  conversation  on  the  various  events  in  the 
history  of  the  province,  going  back  through  the  preced- 
ing half  century  ;  narratives  and  anecdotes,  now  serious 
and  now  amusing,  together  with  songs  from  younger 
members  and  brief  speeches  from  the  older  ones,  filled 
up  several  hours  of  time  with  unmixed  pleasure  for  the 
party  there  collected  to  honor  the  first  founders  of  the 
Missouri  province  of  the  Jesuit  Society.  The  address 
given  by  the  amiable  Father  Van  Assche,  in  answer  to 
a  toast,  abounded  in  that  wit,  pleasantry,  and  pathos, 
happily  blended  with  deep  and  moving  piety,  which 
none  other  than  this  good  and  wise  old  man  could  have 
uttered.  A  special  effect  was  added  to  all  he  said  by 
his  reverend  locks,  white  as  the  snow;  by  his  manners, 
simple  and  ingenuous  as  those  of  a  child ;  while  his 
countenance  beamed  with  unfeigned  cheerfulness  and 
the  goodness  of  his  heart. 

On  June  I,  1872,  Dr.  Moses  L.  Linton  died  at  his 
country  residence,  College  Hill,  St.  Louis.  He  had  been 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  Ill 

the  family  physician  at  the  St.  Louis  University  for 
nearly  thirty  years.  Dr.  Linton  was,  on  the  whole,  far 
the  most  influential  professor  of  the  St.  Louis  Medical 
College  in  his  day  ;  and  he  has  left  his  impress  on  the 
profession  in  St.  Louis.  He  was  not  only  master  of  the 
medical  science  and  art,  but  he  was  a  scholar  of  exten- 
sive and  varied  learning  on  many  subjects.  His  lectures 
to  his  class  were  remarkable  for  their  clearness  and  the 
thoroughness  with  which  they  exhausted  the  subjects 
treated,  leaving  little  else  for  his  listeners  to  learn  con- 
cerning them.  He  was  a  self-made  man,  of  strong 
convictions  and  decided  opinions,  which  he  declared 
and  defended  firmly,  but  not  offensively  to  others.  He 
was  an  original  and  deep  thinker ;  and,  according  as  the 
occasion  demanded,  he  was  an  orator,  and  even  a  poet, 
whose  verses  were  far  above  mediocrity.  Dr.  Linton 
was  born  in  Nelson  County,  Kentucky,  April  12,  1812. 
He  studied  medicine  in  Springfield,  Kentucky,  under 
the  direction  of  Dr.  Polin,  a  Catholic  physician  of  that 
town.  He  graduated  at  Transylvania  University,  and  on 
October  I  o,  1 837,  he  married  Ann  Rachel  Booker,  daugh- 
ter of  Judge  Paul  J.  Booker,  of  Springfield,  Kentucky. 
He  went  to  Paris,  France,  in  order  to  further  perfect 
himself  in  his  profession,  and  returned  to  Springfield  in 
September,  1840.  He  became  a  Catholic  in  February, 

1841,  and  he  was  assailed  for  taking  this  step  by  Rev. 
Robert  Grundy,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  who  published 
pamphlets  on  the  occasion.     Dr.  Linton's  replies,  full 
of  learning,  and  written  in  a  spirited  and  pleasing  style, 
were  much  admired  by  all  parties.     He  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  medical  faculty  of  the  St.  Louis  University  in 

1842,  and  he  moved  his  family  to  St.  Louis  in  1844,  with 


112  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

the  view  of  making  this  city  his  permanent  home.  He 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 
which  assembled  in  1865.  Dr.  Linton  was,  in  more  re- 
spects than  one,  an  extraordinary  man.  His  uprightness 
of  purpose  was  admitted  by  all,  even  the  most  opposed 
to  his  opinions  on  various  public  questions.  He  neither 
feared  nor  flattered  any  man,  but  did  his  duty  to  God 
and  to  his  fellow-men  from  the  highest  and  purest  mo- 
tives. His  death  was  that  of  the  faithful  servant,  after 
accomplishing  his  task,  in  the  hope  of  a  bright  immor- 
tality; and  the  honors  paid  to  his  remains  and  his 
memory  showed  how  highly  Dr.  Linton  was  esteemed 
by  all  classes  of  citizens,  how  sincerely  he  was  regretted, 
especially  by  the  poor,  to  whom  he  had  ever  been  a 
friend  in  their  distresses. 

The  following  characteristic  letter,  written  in  Dr. 
Linton's  own  hand  a  few  days  previous  to  his  death, 
may  appropriately  conclude  this  brief  outline  of  his 
life :  — 

"ST.  Louis,  Mo.,  May  14,  1872. 

"  DEAR  FATHER  O'NEIL,  —  I  wish  to  say  a  few  things 
to  the  Jesuit  fathers  of  St.  Louis.  Since  I  entered 
their  hospitable  doors,  thirty  years  ago,  up  to  the  present 
hour,  I  have  been  the  recipient  of  their  kindness  and 
benefactions.  I  cannot  express  my  gratitude,  and  there- 
fore shall  not  attempt  it ;  I  wish  merely  to  record  it. 
If  Almighty  God  has  an  heroic  and  faithful  vanguard  in 
the  church  militant,  it  is  most  surely  constituted  by  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  The  more  I  think  about  this  organi- 
zation, the  morel  am  convinced  that  there  is  something 
miraculous  about  it.  Contemplate  the  life  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  whose  canonized  relics  are  religiously  guarded 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  113 

at  Goa,  who  wrought  more  miracles  than  the  adored 
Man-God  himself  and  all  His  apostles.  This  assertion 
was  made  by  one  of  Mr.  Seward's  party  in  their  recent 
visit  to  the  shrine  of  the  saint,  and  it  is  the  general 
belief,  in  that  part  of  India,  of  those  of  all  creeds. 
This  order  checked,  hurled  back,  and  forever  crippled 
the  confident  and  advancing  hordes  of  Protestantism. 
A.  M.  D.  G.  Who  invented  this  motto,  I  should  like  to 
know?  The  grandest  four  words,  the  greatest  thought 
that  mortal  language  affords.  They  embrace  heaven  and 
earth  ;  they  apply  equally  to  the  most  august  hierarchs 
in  the  presence  of  God,  and  the  humblest  denizen  of 
our  globe  ;  they  include  what  is  sublimest  in  eloquence 
and  song  ;  they  indicate  what  is  holiest,  worthiest,  and 
best  in  eternity,  as  well  as  in  time.  Please  do  not  call 
this  raving  ;  for  if  it  be,  then  I  have  been  a  lunatic,  with- 
out lucid  intervals,  for  several  years. 

I  am  very  thankful  to  God  for  my  long  acquaintance  — 
I  may  say,  my  intimate  association  —  with  the  Jesuit 
fathers.  Most  of  them  whom  I  first  knew  have  pre- 
ceded me  to  the  grave,  though  much  younger  than  I  am 
now.  How  often  do  I  recall  and  gaze  upon  their  famil- 
iar faces,  and  ask  myself  why  such  men  should  die  so 
soon.  I  believe  in  the  Catholic  Church,  —  every  article 
of  her  creed,  from  the  divinity  of  Christ  to  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  Pope.  I  want  a  firm  faith  now,  as  the  time 
for  my  going  hence  approaches;  I  beg  of  all  the  Jesuit 
fathers,  and  the  brothers,  too,  an  occasional  prayer.  If 
I  live,  I  shall  go  to  my  country  residence  this  week ; 
and  I  never  expect  to  leave  it,  until  I  am  removed  to 
another  residence,  which  I  have  provided  for  myself  and 
family,  near  the  foot  of  the  cross  in  Calvary.  And  now, 


114  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

my  dear  fathers  and  friends,  with  a  heart  full  of  grati- 
tude,—  yea,  deep  and  abiding  love  for  you  all,  —  I  bid 
you  adieu. 

"  M.  L.  LINTON." 

At  the  annual  commencement  held  June  25,  1873, 
three  young  gentlemen  received  the  degree  of  A.M.,  and 
three  received  that  of  A.B. ;  twenty-three  candidates 
received  diplomas  in  the  commercial  department.  The 
total  number  of  students  registered  for  the  scholastic 
year  then  ending  was  four  hundred  and  thirteen,  the 
highest  number  ever  at  the  institution  during  one  session ; 
the  greatest  number  in  actual  attendance  at  the  same 
time  was  three  hundred  and  seventy-four,  which  was 
reached  on  November  13,  1872.  The  records  show  that 
the  number  of  students  varies  up  and  down,  with  increas- 
ing or  waning  prosperity  among  the  general  public,  in 
commercial  and  industrial  pursuits  ;  but  it  is  influenced 
also  by  the  coming  or  going  of  officers  and  professors 
of  greater  or  less  celebrity  and  popularity,  as  would 
naturally  be  expected.  The  financial  crisis  of  1873 
caused  a  sudden  and  extraordinary  reaction  in  business 
of  every  kind,  and  its  depressing  effects  are  still  plainly 
visible  at  the  present  day. 

A  tabular  statement  of  results  for  ten  years  is  here  ap- 
pended, which  will  serve  to  show  how  the  university, 
now  relatively  an  old  institution,  and  one  which  has 
always  retained  its  hold  on  public  favor,  yet  follows  up 
and  down  the  changing  fortunes  of  the  business  com- 
munity. The  table  presents  statistics  of  a  kind  that  may 
suggest  interesting  or  useful  reflection,  especially  to 
those  whose  attention  is  given  to  questions  pertaining 
to  the  advancement  of  education.  It  is  believed  that  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 


period  often  years  embraced  in  the  statement  will  pre- 
sent results  sufficiently  comprehensive,  as  a  sample. 
The  numbers  given  are  taken  by  actual  count  from  the 
published  catalogues  for  the  respective  scholastic  years 
specified :  — 


Number  of 

/•'..\  terns  

Classical.... 

ci 

Total  No.  .S 

^ 

5 

N 

to 

Commercial 

years  ending 

.>/>.(  VOij 

1 

| 

b 
| 

5" 

J 
8- 

g 

$ 

j 

5i 

•» 

j 

June  30,  1870 





93 

1  20 

84 

297 

7 

3 

8 

June  29.  1871 

93 

155 

60 

317 

c 

8 

June  27,  1872 

194 

?r>8 

140 

180 

8? 

402 

c 

j 

17 

June  25.  1873 

229 

163 

180 

70 

413 

3 

3 

23 

June  24,  1874 

T58 

158 

CO 

374 

IO 

17 

Tune  30,  1875 

I  32 

221 

109 

9° 

353 

4 

3 

12 

Tune  26  1876 

III 

23Q 

Tl8 

1:3 

7Q 

3"O 

7 

2 

21 

Tune  27.  1877 

IOO 

227 

122 

68 

327 

3 

2 

II 

June  26,  1878 

1  06 

I  34 

144 

18 

J*-< 
334 

3 

2 

27 

June  25,  1879.. 

117 

245 

I5S 

140 

64 

362 

9 

21 

15 

3 

,6 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  total  number  of  students 
was  increasing  till  the  financial  crisis  of  1873,  when  it 
began  to  decrease,  reaching  the  minimum  during  the 
session  ending  June  27,  1877  ;  and  since  that  date  there 
has  begun  an  increase,  which  is  greater  for  the  year  just 
ended,  June  25,  1879.  Within  that  period  fifty-six 
young  gentlemen  received  the  degree  of  A.B.,  twenty- 
nine  that  of  A.M.,  and  one  hundred  and  forty  received 
their  diplomas  in  the  commercial  course.  Five  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  B.S.,  or  Bachelor  of  Science, 
within  the  two  years  elapsed  since  the  scientific  course 
was  introduced. 


Il6  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

On  May  23,  1873,  at  half-past  two  o'clock,  A.  M.,  Rev. 
P.  J.  De  Smet,  the  illustrious  Indian  missionary,  died  at 
the  St.  Louis  University.  Perhaps  no  Jesuit  since  the 
restoration  of  the  Jesuit  order,  in  1814,  has  gained  so 
widespread  a  celebrity  as  Father  De  Smet.  As  long 
ago  as  1843,  a  volume  of  his  letters,  in  which,  with  his 
own  peculiar  power  of  narrating  and  describing  events 
and  scenes  witnessed  by  him,  he  gave  an  account  of 
his  first  journey  to  Oregon,  and  among  the  Indian  tribes 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  was  read  extensively  and  with 
avidity  in  the  United  States  and  throughout  Europe. 
On  the  various  trips  undertaken  in  order  to  advance  the 
welfare  of  the  Indian  missions,  Father  De  Smet  trav- 
eled over  one  hundred  thousand  miles  ;  he  collected, 
principally  in  Belgium  and  Holland,  one  million  of 
francs  in  money,  and  in  valuable  objects  for  the  altar, 
which  were  devoted  to  the  various  missions  of  Kansas 
and  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  ;  during  the  period  of  forty 
years  he  induced  a  hundred  young  men  to  offer  them- 
selves to  the  province  of  Missouri,  most  of  them  with 
the  view  of  going  on  the  Indian  missions ;  and  finally, 
not  here  to  estimate  the  amount  of  good  done  for  the 
Indian  race  through  these  different  means,  he  baptized 
many  thousands  of  these  aborigines  with  his  own 
hands.  His  name  is  still  in  benediction,  and  his  love 
for  the  red  men  is  still  gratefully  remembered  among  the 
tribes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  with  whom  his  influ- 
ence was  so  great  that  the  United  States  authorities 
more  than  once  used  his  moral  power  over  those  sav- 
ages to  pacify  them,  when  irritated  into  violence  by  the 
cupidity  and  injustice  of  dishonest  agents,  or  by 
sharp  traders  that  had  swindled  or  robbed  them. 
Father  De  Smet  received  from  the  government  at 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  I  I/ 

Washington  the  exclusive  right  of  nominating  all  Indian 
agents  for  Catholic  tribes,  or  Catholic  sections  of  tribes  ; 
he  exercised  this  office  till  a  few  months  before  his  death, 
when  he  was  compelled,  by  ill-health,  to  resign  the 
trust.  Father  De  Smet's  remains  were  buried  on  the 
little  mound,  shaded  by  the  tall  black-thorn  trees,  by 
the  catalpa,  and  the  weeping  willow,  in  the  garden  at 
St.  Stanislaus  Novitiate,  near  Florissant,  Missouri, 
where  are  now  buried  all  except  one  of  the  party  who 
first  reached  that  spot,  in  June,  1823. 

On  July  31,  1873,  St.  Stanislaus  Novitiate,  the  mother 
house  of  the  province,  celebrated  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  its  foundation.  Although  Father  Van  Quickenborne 
and  companions  actually  moved  into  their  new  home  be- 
fore the  end  of  June,  I823,1  they  began  to  dig  the  cellar 
for  an  addition  to  their  little  cabin  on  the  3 1st  of  July, 
the  feast  of  St.  Ignatius  Loyola.  From  this  latter  cir- 
cumstance, July  3 ist  was  chosen,  in  1873,  as  an  appro- 
priate day  for  celebrating  the  golden  jubilee  of  the 
novitiate.  The  president  of  the  St.  Louis  University, 
with  some  of  the  professors,  as  also  some  Jesuit  fathers 
from  St.  Joseph's  Church,  St.  Louis,  and  other  neigh- 
boring residences,  participated  in  the  observance  of  the 
day,  the  venerable  Father  Busschotts  pronouncing  be- 
fore the  assembly  an  elegant  and  feeling  discourse  in 
the  Latin  language. 

The  session  of  1873-74  did  not  begin  under  favorable 
auspices,  owing,  first,  to  the  general  panic  caused  by 
the  financial  crisis,  the  banks  closing  in  St.  Louis  on 


1  On  the  last  day  of  June,  or  possibly  the  first  day  of  July,  1873,  il 
was  just  two  hundred  years  since  Marquette,  also  an  Indian  missionary 
and  a  Jesuit,  first  passed  by  the  site  of  St.  Louis,  the  first  white  man 
who  saw  the  mouth  of  the  Pekitanoui,  or  the  Missouri  River 


Il8  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

September  26,  1873,  —  and,  indeed,  the  banks  in  nearly 
all  cities  of  the  United  States  closed  almost  simultane- 
ously ;  secondly,  throughout  August,  September,  and 
a  great  part  of  October,  1873,  the  yellow  fever  was  pre- 
vailing in  those  Southern  States  from  which  usually 
a  number  of  students  come  to  the  university.  During 
that  season,  this  scourge  of  the  Southern  cities  was  very 
destructive  in  Memphis  and  Shreveport;  but  it  was 
also  more  or  less  fatal  in  all  the  towns  situated  on  the 
Lower  Mississippi,  and  on  Red  River.  From  these 
causes,  the  number  of  boarders  at  the  university  during 
this  session  fell  considerably  below  that  of  the  preced- 
ing session.  Yet,  relatively  to  the  unpropitious  cir- 
cumstances, the  school  was  large,  there  being  three 
hundred  and  seventy-four  pupils  registered  for  the 
scholastic  year.  Ten  candidates  received  the  degree  of 
A.B.  at  the  annual  commencement,  June  24,  1874,  the 
largest  number  ever  receiving  that  degree  at  the  same 
time  in  this  institution. 

The  completion  of  the  bridge  over  the  Mississippi  at 
St.  Louis,  and  the  tunnel  under  the  city,  during  the 
summer  of  this  year,1  together  with  the  opening  of  other 
commercial  avenues  to  and  from  St.  Louis,  served  to 
check  the  rapidity  with  which  all  business  was  hasten- 
ing downward  into  confusion.  The  change  for  the  bet- 
ter was  noticeable  at  the  university  in  1874,  especially 
through  the  increased  number  of  students  from  St. 
Louis  that  were  then  registered. 

On   November  20,  1874,  the  remains  of  Right  Rev. 


1  By  the  entries  in  a  private  diary,  it  appears  that  the  bridge  first 
joined  the  two  shores  on  December  19,  1873  ;  it  was  first  open  for  foot- 
passengers  on  May  23,  1874,  for  vehicles  on  June  6th,  and  on  June 
9th  the  first  train  of  cars  crossed  over  the  bridge. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  119 

James  Van  de  Velde,  Bishop  of  Natchez,  Mississippi, 
were  reinterred  at  St.  Stanislaus  Novitiate,  near  Floris- 
sant. Rev.  James  Converse  had  removed  them  for  the 
purpose  from  Natchez,  where  Bishop  Van  de  Velde 
died  of  yellow  fever,  on  November  13,  1855.  His  re- 
mains now  repose  beside  those  of  Father  De  Smet  and 
those  of  Father  Meurin,  translated  in  1849  by  Bishop 
Van  de  Velde  himself  from  Prairie  du  Rocher,  Illinois, 
where  that  missionary  of  the  old  society  died,  February 
23,  1777;  and  thus,  as  Bishop  Van  de  Velde  observed 
on  the  occasion,  the  restored  society  is  thereby  in  some 
manner  united  to  the  old  society.  Bishop  Van  de 
Velde's  grave  was  the  sixty-third  grave  on  the  little 
mound  at  the  novitiate.1 

An  additional  house,  erected  to  supply  the  wants  of 
the  novitiate,  was  religiously  dedicated  on  June  9,  1874, 
and  it  was  finally  occupied  on  the  2d  of  July.  It  is  a 
large  brick  house,  containing  a  dormitory  for  the 
novices  and  juniors,  a  chapel,  study-halls,  refectory, 
and  infirmary.  It  is  at  the  rear  of  the  main  building, 
parallel  with  it,  and  distant  from  it  about  seventy-five 
feet ;  the  second  stories  of  the  two  buildings  are  con- 
nected by  a  covered  passage  resting  on  pillars.  At 
that  date  there  were  at  the  novitiate  thirty-seven  scho- 
lastics, the  entire  community  then  numbering  sixty-four 
members. 

Rev.  L.  Bushart  succeeded  Rev.  Joseph  Zealand  as 
president  of  the  St.  Louis  University,  on  November  22, 
1874.  At  the  commencement  on  June  30,  1875,  three 
young  gentlemen  received  the  degree  of  A.M.,  four 
that  of  A.B.,  and  twelve  received  their  diplomas  in  the 


1  The  number  has  now,  July  I,  1879,  reached  eighty-two. 


120  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

commercial  department.  The  roll  of  students  for  the 
year  contained  three  hundred  and  fifty-three  names. 
At  the  termination  of  the  next  scholastic  year,  on  June 
28,  1876,  the  degree  of  A.M.  was  conferred  on  two- 
young  gentlemen,  that  of  A.B.  on  seven,  and  diplomas 
were  conferred  on  twenty-one  in  the  commercial  de- 
partment. 

The  year  1876,  being  the  one  hundredth  anniversary 
of  American  independence,  was  commemorated  in  a 
becoming  manner  at  the  close  of  the  session,  and  dur- 
ing the  summer  vacation  of  that  year  a  number  of  the 
students  visited  Philadelphia,  the  cradle  of  American 
independence,  where,  by  general  consent,  the  centen- 
nial was  celebrated  in  a  special  manner  by  the  nation. 
The  patriotic  festivals  of  our  country,  as  February  22d, 
or  Washington's  Birthday,  and  the  Fourth  of  July,  were 
always  publicly  commemorated  at  the  university;  but 
within  the  last  twenty-five  years  the  4th  of  July  always 
came  during  the  summer  vacation,  when  classes  had 
been  suspended  and  the  students  had  returned  to  their 
homes.  In  earlier  times  the  summer  vacation  did  not 
begin  till  the  end  of  July,  and  sometimes  not  before 
August  1 5th;  but  experience  ultimately  showed  the  ne- 
cessity of  suspending  classes  altogether  during  the  en- 
tire months  of  July  and  August,  owing  to  their  extreme 
heat.  For  a  few  years  past,  the  summer  vacation  at 
the  university  has  extended  from  the  last  Wednesday 
in  June  to  the  first  Monday  of  the  following  Septem- 
ber. 

In  the  autumn  of  1876,  a  number  of  Catholic  young 
gentlemen,  most  of  them  former  students  of  the  univer- 
sity, through  the  influence  of  Rev.  J.  M.  Hayes,  associ- 
ated themselves  together  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  121 

ing  a  society  styled  by  them  the  "  St.  Mark's  Academy," 
which,  as  declared  in  the  preamble  to  its  constitution, 
"has  for  its  object  the  development  of  an  active  Catho- 
lic spirit  by  philosophical,  literary,  and  scientific  cult- 
ure." With  the  view  of  realizing  this  design,  its  mem- 
bers aim  to  study  further  and  more  thoroughly  the 
branches  of  higher  learning  best  fitted  for  effecting  their 
purpose,  more  especially  by  acquiring  knowledge  of 
those  superior  subjects  in  their  relations  to  the  Catholic 
religion.  They  hold  their  meetings  bi-monthly,  in  the 
Philalethic  Hall,  at  the  university,  and  they  are  pre- 
sided over  by  one  of  the  professors.  The  enrolled 
members  number  twenty-nine,  and  there  is  an  average 
attendance  at  their  meetings  often.  This  undertaking, 
which  was  first  inspired  by  Rev.  J.  M.  Hayes,  has  met 
with  encouraging  success,  and  it  gives  promise  of  effi- 
caciously and  fully  supplying  an  important  desideratum 
for  the  educated  young  gentlemen  of  St.  Louis. 

At  the  annual  commencement,  which  took  place 
June  27,  1877,  the  degree  of  A.M.  was  conferred  on 
two  young  gentlemen,  that  of  A.B.  on  three,  and  di- 
plomas were  conferred  on  eleven  successful  candidates 
in  the  commercial  department.  The  total  number  of 
students  registered  for  the  year  then  terminating  was 
three  hundred  and  twenty-seven. 

On  April  18,  1877,  a  number  of  the  students  per- 
formed a  drama  in  the  public  hall  of  the  university,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  sufferers  by  the  burning  of  the  South- 
ern Hotel,  in  St.  Louis.  This  disastrous  fire  broke  out 
just  after  midnight  on  the  morning  of  April  II,  1877, 
raging  with  much  violence  for  several  hours,  and  en- 
tirely destroying  the  magnificent  building.  Eleven  per- 
sons were  known  to  have  perished  in  the  flames,  and 


122  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

much  distress  was  caused  by  the  calamity  to  the  ser- 
vants and  various  employees  of  the  hotel,  many  of 
whom  lost  all  they  possessed  as  means  of  living.  The 
students  answered  a  call  made  on  public  charity,  and 
chose  this  means  of  contributing  to  the  relief  of  the  un- 
fortunates. It  may  be  added  that  a  similar  work  of 
beneficence  was  performed  by  the  students  on  Septem- 
ber 25,  1878,  when  a  public  entertainment  of  the  same 
kind  was  given  by  them  in  favor  of  the  sufferers  by  the 
yellow-fever  epidemic,  which,  under  an  unusually  viru- 
lent type,  was  then  producing  much  misery  in  several 
of  the  Southern  States. 

The  golden  jubilee  of  Pius  the  Ninth's  consecration 
to  the  episcopal  dignity  was  celebrated  in  St.  Louis  on 
June  3,  1877,  witn  much  enthusiasm  and  display.  A 
procession  of  twelve  thousand  persons  marching  in  line, 
six  abreast,  passed  near  the  university,  where  it  was 
joined  by  the  students,  and  by  five  hundred  additional 
young  men,  who  also  filed  out  from  the  premises  and 
united  with  the  main  body  of  the  procession. 

It  was  on  the  same  day,  June  3,  1877,  that  the  province 
of  Missouri  actually  took  possession  of  the  former 
cathedral  and  adjoining  residence  in  the  city  of  Detroit, 
Michigan,  with  a  view  of  there  establishing  a  college, 
the  arrangement  having  been  previously  agreed  on  be- 
tween Right  Rev.  Bishop  Borgess  and  Rev.  Thomas 
O'Neil,  provincial  of  Missouri.  Rev.  J.  B.  Miege  received 
principal  charge  of  this  new  undertaking,  being  ap- 
pointed first  superior  of  the  residence  after  it  had  passed 
under  control  of  the  Jesuits.  On  September  2,  1877, 
a  few  classes  were  organized,  as  a  first  step  towards 
establishing  "  Detroit  College." 

On  June  26,  1877,  Rev.  J.  F.  Van  Assche  died  at  St. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  12$ 

Stanislaus  Novitiate,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his 
age,  and  just  fifty-four  years  after  his  first  arrival  at  the 
same  place.  He  was  buried  at  the  novitiate  on  June 
29th,  the  solemn  Requiem  Mass  and  other  funeral  rites 
taking  place  in  the  church  at  the  village  of  Florissant, 
of  which  he  had  long  been  pastor,  and  to  which  his 
remains  were  conveyed  in  order  that  his  congregation 
might  witness  the  ceremony.  The  crowd  that  was  pres- 
ent on  the  occasion  exceeded  in  number,  perhaps,  any 
collection  of  i  eople  ever  before  assembled  at  St.  Fer- 
dinand's Church,  Florissant ;  nearly  one  hundred  vehicles 
accompanied  his  remains  back  to  the  novitiate  for  inter- 
ment. Father  Van  Assche  was  exceedingly  modest  as 
to  his  natural  gifts  and  his  acquired  good  qualities,  and  he 
ranked  himself  below  all  his  companions;  but  he  seems 
actually  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  correct  in  judg- 
ment, and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
of  all  those  sterling  and  excellent  pioneers,  for  numer- 
ous and  amiable  virtues. 

The  following  extract  from  a  sketch  of  his  life,  fur- 
nished the  St.  Louis  Times  of  June  27,  1877,  will  interest 
the  public  of  this  city  and  vicinity,  where  he  was  held 
in  high  esteem  by  all  that  knew  him  ;  and  at  the  same 
time  it  will  add  some  facts  concerning  the  original 
founders  of  the  St.  Louis  University,  not  contained  in 
the  foregoing  chapters  of  this  volume  :  — 

"  Rev.  Judocus  Francis  Van  Assche,  S.  J.,  departed 
this  life  yesterday,  at  twelve  o'clock,  noon,  in  the  seventy- 
eighth  year  of  his  age.  On  the  26th  of  last  May  he 
started  on  horseback  to  visit  the  sick,  carrying  with  him 
the  Blessed  Sacrament.  When  two  miles  from  Florissant, 
out  on  the  Cross  Keys  Road,  he  was  suddenly  attacked 
with  paralysis,  falling  from  his  horse.  The  faithful 


124  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

animal  stood  still,  seemingly  waiting  for  him  to  rise  and 
remount.  He  lay  helpless  on  the  ground,  till  a  gentle- 
man, happening  to  pass  that  way,  assisted  him  upon  his 
horse.  He  wished  to  go  on  to  the  house  of  the  sick 
person  ;  but  after  riding  a  short  distance  he  felt  that  he 
could  proceed  no  further,  and  he  turned  about  and 
returned  to  his  home  at  Florissant,  which  he  reached 
with  much  difficulty.  Dr.  Hereford  being  called,  found 
the  attack  to  be  a  serious  one,  that  offered  little  hope  of 
recovery.  The  patient  was  removed  to  the  St.  Stanis- 
laus Novitiate,  where,  despite  all  that  medical  art  and 
kindness  of  friends  could  do  for  him,  he  gradually  sank 
until  he  breathed  his  last,  yesterday. 

"  The  word  rapidly  travelled  to  the  village,  and 
through  the  surrounding  country  to  this  city,  that 
'good  Father  Van  Assche  is  dead;'  and  perhaps  none 
that  knew  him  personally  ever  knew  another  person 
to  whom  the  epithet  '  good/  in  all  its  meaning,  could 
be  so  appropriately  given  ;  for  Father  Van  Assche  was 
a  man  of  remarkable  goodness,  both  by  nature  and 
from  every  amiable  virtue.  He  never  had  an  enemy, 
and  an  unkind  word  was  never  spoken  against  him.  He 
had  the  simplicity  of  a  child ;  he  was  so  cheerful,  so 
kindly  in  his  manners,  so  ready  to  serve  others,  and  to 
give  the  preference  to  any  one  over  himself,  that  no 
man  knew  him  that  did  not  love  him,  and  no  one  could 
meet  him  without  desiring  again  to  see  him  and  con- 
verse with  him.  Every  member  of  his  congregation 
looked  upon  him  as  a  special  friend,  and  all  revered  him 
as  a  wise  and  saintly  man.  He  was  a  father  to  the  poor 
and  those  in  sorrow,  and  he  never  turned  away  a  beg- 
gar from  his  door  without  giving  something,  even  when 
having  little  for  himself;  'for/  he  would  say  to  his 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  125 

friends,  '  even  if  the  beggar  be  an  undeserving  drunkard, 
he  must  be  in  great  need,  if  he  will  come  and  ask  a 
small  pittance  of  me.'  Father  Van  Assche  realized,  in 
his  whole  life  and  conduct,  the  ideal  of  a  Christian 
pastor,  made  perfect  beyond  all  ordinary  men,  by  a 
charity  that  was  unfeigned,  because  it  knew  no  exception, 
it  refused  no  work,  and  it  feared  no  sacrifice.  His  zeal 
was  not  like  that  of  the  Pharisee,  fiery  and  intolerant, 
even  of  the  person ;  it  was  persuasive  and  gentle,  like 
that  of  the  Redeemer,  making  duty  a  pleasure,  not  an 
insupportable  burden.  He  was  distinguished  for  his 
practical  good  sense  and  the  solidity  of  his  judgment 
concerning  all  the  affairs  of  human  life ;  he  was  ob- 
servant and  thoughtful ;  his  opinions  showed  so  much 
wisdom  and  prudence,  on  all  matters  falling  under  his 
notice,  that  his  advice  was  sought  for  and  most  highly 
valued,  even  by  most  learned  acquaintances.  It  was 
instructive  to  hear  him  express  his  thoughts  on  public 
and  social  questions.  Having  spent  in  the  United 
States  fifty-six  years  of  his  long  life,  he  had  become 
attached  to  the  country  and  its  institutions,  as  if  he 
had  known  no  other.  He  often  said  pleasantly  to  his 
young  friends  that  were  born  here  :  '  I  am  more  of  an 
American  than  you,  for  two  reasons  :  one  is,  I  am  here 
longer  than  you  have  been ;  and  the  other  is,  that 
I  am  an  American  by  choice  and  you  are  one  by 
accident.'  He  lamented  the  rapid  growth  of  avarice 
among  our  citizens  during  late  years,  saying:  'Now 
the  people  no  longer  work  for  a  living,  but  all  are  now 
working  to  become  rich.'  He  first  began  to  minister 
at  the  altar  in  1827,  now  fifty  years  ago  ;  he  baptized, 
in  their  infancy,  the  grandparents  of  many  now  living 
in  this  city  and  in  St.  Louis  County.  '  Good  Father 


126  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

Van  Assche,'  as  he  was,  for  many  years,  styled  by 
every  one,  will  be  buried  to-day  on  the  spot — a  little 
mound —  where  repose  the  remains  of  Father  De  Smet, 
the  illustrious  Indian  missionary,  and  those  of  Father 
Meurin,  who  died  at  Kaskaskia  in  17/7.  Fifty  long 
years  ago,  Father  Van  Assche  heard  the  whippoor- 
will's  nightly  song  from  its  perch  on  the  tall  trees  cover- 
ing the  ground  beneath  whose  sod  he  will  now  sleep 
his  last  long  :-leep. 

"  Father  Judocus  F.  Van  Assche  was  born  at  St. 
Amand,  which  is  on  the  banks  of  the  Scheldt,  and  is 
five  leagues  above  Antwerp.  His  father,  Judocus  Van 
^Assche,  dealt  in  spun  cotton  and  flax.  Young  Van 
Assche  wished  to  be  a  sailor,  and  his  father  applied  to 
a  captain,  known  to  be  a  good  man,  to  receive  him  ; 
but  the  captain  whom  he  applied  to  declined  to  accept 
any  more  boys.  The  youth  was  sent  to  school  at 
Mechlin.  His  playfulness  caused  his  teacher,  by  not 
rightly  estimating  the  innocent  vivacity  of  a  boyish 
nature,  to  request  his  father  to  recall  him  from  school ; 
his  father  declined  to  do  so,  till  his  son  was  given 
further  trial.  The  youth  soon  became  distinguished  for 
his  diligence  in  study,  obedience  to  rules,  success  in  his 
classes,  and  all  virtues  becoming  his  age. 

"  In  1816,  the  illustrious  Kentucky  missionary,  Father 
Charles  Nerinckx,  went  to  his  native  country,  Belgium, 
in  the  interests  of  his  various  missions  in  the  Diocese  of 
Bardstown,  Kentucky.  On  his  return  to  the  United 
States,  in  1817,  he  was  accompanied  by  James  Oliver 
Van  de  Velde,  who  joined  the  Jesuit  Society  at  George- 
town College,  D.  C.  In  Belgium,  the  latter  was  tutor 
of  French  to  young  Judocus  F.  Van  Assche,  who  would 
have  accompanied  him  had  not  his  youth  and  the  lack 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  I2/ 

of  means  rendered  such  a  step  impracticable  at  that 
time.  His  desire  to  join  his  friend  at  Georgetown  he, 
however,  kept,  and  he  only  waited  for  an  opportunity  to 
go  to  America.  In  1820,  Father  Nerinckx  again  visited 
Belgium,  and,  passing  by  way  of  Georgetown,  he  was 
made  the  bearer  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Van  de  Velde  to 
young  Van  Assche,  which  was  delivered  to  the  parents 
of  the  youth.  Young  Van  Assche  resolved  to  accom- 
pany the  Rev.  Mr.  Xerinckx  on  his  return  to  America, 
and  revealed  his  intention  to  his  schoolmate,  John  A. 
Elet.  He,  too,  determined  to  go  with  the  missionary 
to  America.  A  little  after,  John  B.  Smedts  joined  them 
in  their  proposed  journey,  and  then  P.  J.  De  Smet, 
Felix  Verreydt,  and  P.  J.  Verhaegen  also  determined 
to  join  the  party.  In  order  to  raise  the  funds  necessary 
for  the  trip,  they  disposed  of  their  books  and  furniture, 
pawning  their  pianos  and  watches  for  redemption  by 
their  parents.  After  overcoming  many  difficulties,  they 
collected  together  on  the  Texel,  a  small  island  off  the 
coast  of  North  Holland.  Near  the  island  the  ship 
'  Columbus, '  on  which  they  were  to  sail,  rode  at 
anchor,  waiting  for  them.  They  boarded  her,  and  went 
quietly  out  upon  the  main  sea.  They  seemed  to  have 
cast  no  lingering,  longing  looks  back  upon  the  shores 
which  most  of  them  were  never  to  see  again ;  for  their 
firmly  determined  purpose  was  to  give  up  all  that  was 
nearest  and  dearest  to  the  human  heart,  in  order  to  de- 
vote their  lives  to  the  Indian  missions  of  America. 

"  They  reached  Philadelphia  on  Sunday,  September 
23,  1821,  whence  they  proceeded  at  once,  by  way  of 
Baltimore,  to  Georgetown. 

"  They  were  received  as  novices,  and  sent  at  once  to  the 
house  of  probation  at  White  Marsh  ;  the  place  was  so 
named  in  commemoration  of  the  illustrious  Father  White, 


128  HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

S.  J.,  who  accompanied  the  first  colony  of  English  Catho- 
lics, who,  leaving  their  country  for  conscience  sake, 
settled  in  Maryland. 

"  In  1 832,  Father  Van  Assche  began  to  reside  at  Floris- 
sant. He  lived  a  couple  of  years  at  Portage  des  Sioux, 
but  in  1840  he  was  required  by  his  physicians  to  leave 
the  place,  which  was  subject  to  malarious  influences  on 
account  of  the  low,  wet  lands  surrounding  it.  He 
returned  to  Florissant,  and,  with  the  exception  of  three 
years' residence  at  St.  Charles,  Father  Van  Assche  made 
Florissant  his  home  till  his  death.  He  lived  fifty-four 
years  of  his  long  life  in  Missouri;  and,  except  for  two 
short  visits,  one  to  Cincinnati  and  one  to  Chicago,  he 
never  in  that  time  went  beyond  St.  Louis  and  St.  Charles 
Counties.  He  has  now  gone  to  the  reward  of  a  long  and 
useful  life,  followed  by  the  praises  and  the  benisons  of 
all  that  knew  him.  He  was  a  man  of  God,  who  gave 
up  native  country,  a  home  among  loved  ones,  and  all 
that  is  near  and  dear  to  the  human  heart,  in  order  to 
make  himself  useful  as  a  missionary  in  a  strange  land. 
He  set  the  example  of  a  pious  and  blameless  life ;  and 
full  of  days,  and  full  of  merit,  he  expired  calmly  on 
yesterday,  June  26th,  at  St.  Stanislaus  Novitiate,  at 
about  noon.  He  bore  his  last  illness  without  one  mur- 
mur or  complaint,  and  seemingly  without  any  pain. 
No  one  knowing  him  personally  will  fail  giving  assent 
to  the  prayer,  May  he  rest  in  peace  !  and  may  my  last 
end  be  like  to  that  of  good  Father  Van  Assche  ! " 

On  August  2,  1877,  Rev.  L.  Bushart  resigned  his 
office  as  president  of  the  university,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded in  the  position  by  Rev.  Joseph  E.  Keller. 
Under  the  placid  rule  of  Father  Bushart,  the  university 
had  then  passed  safely  and  prosperously  through  the 
most  critical  financial  and  business  troubles  of  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  I2Q 

country,  which  began  with  Jay  Cooke's  ruinous  failure 
in  1873. 

It  was  at  the  opening  of  the  session  1877-78  that  the 
scientific  course  was  first  commenced,  the  students  of 
that  additional  course  attending  the  philosophy  class  of 
the  classical  department,  in  which  logic,  general  and 
special  metaphysics  are  taught,  the  lectures  and  discus- 
sions being  in  the  English  language.  Experience  has 
taught  that  while  it  is  advantageous  always  to  use  Latin 
text-books  in  the  class  of  philosophy,  yet  it  is  advisa- 
ble, and  even  practically  necessary,  for  young  men,  how 
well  soever  they  may  be  trained  in  the  Latin,  to  be 
accustomed  to  the  formulating  of  their  philosophical 
knowledge  in  the  English  language,  the  only  tongue  in 
which  most  of  them  will  have  any  occasion  actually  to 
express  their  thoughts  during  after  life.  In  the  abstract, 
or  speculatively,  it  were  perhaps  better  even  for  lay- 
men to  think  and  study  philosophy  and  enunciate  their 
reasoning  only  in  the  Latin  tongue,  but  in  practice 
this  is  not  feasible  for  all ;  and,  besides,  the  cultivated 
vernaculars  of  this  day  abound  in  philosophical  writings, 
that  are  either  good  or  bad,  and  such  matters  are  dis- 
cussed among  the  people,  and  shape  their  thought. 
On  this  account,  it  is  of  practical  advantage  for  young 
men  who  are  educated  for  the  callings  of  purely  secular 
life  to  acquire  the  power  of  communicating  their  knowl- 
edge of  philosophical  subjects  with  distinctness  and 
fluency,  in  discussing  them  in  the  vernacular  tongue. 

The  board  of  trustees,  at  a  meeting  convened  March 
26,  1878,  determined  to  confer  on  those  of  the  scientific 
course  who  shall  have  passed  a  satisfactory  examina- 
tion in  philosophy  a  parchment  diploma  of  the  degree 
B.S.,  or  Bachelor  of  Science,  provided  they  shall  have 


I3O  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

also  given  satisfaction  in  their  other  classes.  At  a 
subsequent  meeting  of  the  trustees,  it  was  decided  that 
henceforth  a  medal  should  be  bestowed  on  the  student 
of  the  scientific  course  winning  the  highest  honors 
of  the  class  at  the  annual  commencement,  like  to  that 
given  in  the  class  of  philosophy. 

Since  the  cost  of  living  had  become  much  lessened, 
through  the  increased  value  of  money,  before  the  begin- 
ning of  the  scholastic  year  1877-78,  a  reduction  of 
twenty  per  cent  was  then  made  in  the  total  charge  for 
board  and  tuition.1 


1  At  six  o'clock,  p.  M.,  on  December  8,  1877,  the  occultation  of  the 
planet  Venus  was  seen  to  much  advantage  from  the  observatory  of  the 
St.  Louis  University.  To  one  observing  the  phenomenon  with  the 
unaided  eye,  it  was  striking,  especially  by  the  suddenness  with  which 
the  planet  disappeared  behind  the  moon,  its  obscuration  not  taking 
place  gradually,  but  almost  instantaneously. 


CHAPTER    X. 

1878  —  1879. 

THE  trustees  of  the  university,  at  a  meeting  convoked 
February  4,  1 878,  concurred  in  the  opinion  that  it  was  ex- 
pedient for  the  president  of  the  institution,  Rev.  Joseph 
E.  Keller,  to  attend  a  convention  of  college  presidents 
and  delegates  to  be  held  during  that  month  in  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  for  the  purpose  of  consultation  on  matters  per- 
taining to  the  common  interest  of  educational  establish- 
ments. The  meeting  took  place,  but  it  seems  to  have 
been  productive  of  no  important  results.  Meetings  of 
capable  men,  representing  different  colleges,  convened 
for  deliberation  on  questions  of  education  and  methods 
of  teaching,  should  prove  mutually  beneficial  to  such 
institutions.  But  it  too  often  happens  that  delegates 
sent  to  such  assemblies  go  to  them  rather  with  the  aim 
of  propagating  some  preconceived  notions  or  theories 
of  their  own  than  of  increasing  their  knowledge  by 
means  of  the  good  sense  and  experience  of  others. 

In  early  times,  the  students  of  the  St.  Louis  Univer- 
sity all  studied  the  French  language,  and  at  certain 
stated  hours  all  were  required  to  speak  only  in  French, 
though  the  English  was  always  the  ordinary  language 
of  the  institution.  There  were  then,  also,  classes  of 
Spanish,  attended  by  a  number  of  students  desirous  to 
acquire  that  language  for  commercial  reasons.  At  a 
later  date,  the  German  language  came  into  requisition, 

(131) 


132  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

the  number  who  studied  it  gradually  increasing  as  the 
German  population  in  the  city  and  vicinity  became 
more  numerous.  No  class  for  the  study  of  the  Italian 
language  was  ever  organized  at  the  university,  it  never 
being  required.  The  French  language  had  ceased, 
several  years  before  the  late  civil  war,  to  be  universally 
studied,  and  no  Spanish  class  has  been  taught  at  the 
university  since  the  session  of  1 860-61.  On  March 
26th  of  the  current  year,  1879,  there  were  three  hun- 
dred and  forty-two  students  actually  attending  classes ; 
there  were  then  fifty-four  pupils  in  the  German  classes, 
and  nineteen  in  the  French  classes. 

Hence,  since  the  civil  war  began,  in  1861,  there  has 
been  no  class  of  the  Spanish  language;  the  study  of  the 
French  language  during  that  period  has  greatly  declined, 
and  the  study  of  the  German  has  increased,  till  about 
one-sixth  of  the  students  now  attend  the  German 
classes. 

It  is  found,  on  examining  the  records  of  the  institu- 
tion, from  the  time  at  which  the  commercial  course  was 
first  separated  from  the  classical  course,  in  1858,  that 
fluctuation  in  the  total  number  of  students  registered 
mainly  affects  the  commercial  classes ;  or,  there  is  less 
variation  occurring  at  different  times  in  the  total  num- 
ber of  students  following  the  classical  course  than  there 
is  in  the  number  that  follow  the  commercial  course,  the 
latter  rising  and  falling  more  readily  with  general  busi- 
ness prosperity. 

Previous  to  the  year  1836,  the  annual  exhibitions 
before  the  public  were  held  in  the  third  story  of  the 
original  building,  which  was  erected  in  1829.  In 
1836,  and  for  some  years  thereafter,  these  exhibitions 
took  place  in  the  chapel,  on  Washington  Avenue  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  133 

Tenth  Street.  The  audiences  becoming  too  large  to 
enter  this  chapel,  a  stage  was  prepared  in  the  play- 
grounds of  the  students,  and  the  crowd  was  seated 
under  the  shade-trees  which  then  adorned  the  premises. 
In  1855,  and  thenceforth,  these  exhibitions  took  place 
in  the  University  Hall.  The  public  always  manifested 
much  interest  in  these  commencement  exercises,  and 
hence  the  hall,  which  seats  twelve  hundred  persons, 
was  crowded  on  all  such  occasions.  In  order  to  pre- 
vent the  assembling  of  throngs  that  are  too  miscellane- 
ous, single  tickets  are  now  given,  and  only  to  the 
parents  of  the  students  and  to  some  special  friends  of 
the  institution. 

On  March  n,  1878,  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Conroy, 
Papal  Ablegate  to  Canada,  paid  a  complimentary  visit 
to  the  university.  The  students  gave  him  a  formal 
reception  in  the  college  hall,  and  addressed  him  as 
representing  the  head  of  the  Church.  He  replied  in  a 
handsome  and  very  appropriate  speech,  but  he  dis- 
claimed any  official  character  in  his  visit  to  the  United 
States. 

At  the  annual  commencement  which  took  place  June 
26,  1878,  three  candidates  received  the  degree  of  A.B. 
in  the  classical  department,  two  received  the  degree  of 
B.S.  in  the  scientific,  and  twenty-three  received  their 
diplomas  in  the  commercial  course.  The  number  of 
students  registered  for  the  session  beginning  Septem- 
ber 7,  1878,  exceeded  that  of  any  session  since  the  one 
ending  June  27,  1873,  which  is  some  indication  that 
more  prosperous  times  are  returning  to  the  business 
and  industrial  community. 

On  September  5,  1878,  Creighton  College,  at  Omaha, 
Nebraska,  was  first  opened  for  the  admission  of  pupils. 


134  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

The  college  building,  which  is  in  the  English  Gothic 
style  of  architecture,  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-six 
feet  by  fifty-six  feet,  with  three  stories  and  a  basement, 
and  it  was  erected  by  Mr.  John  Creighton,  as  executor 
of  Mrs.  Edward  Creighton,  his  sister-in-law.  Mr.  Ed- 
ward Creighton  died  November  5,  1874,  and  his  widow 
died  January  23,  1876.  This  noble  couple  had  mu- 
tually agreed  to  bequeath  a  portion  of  their  large  for- 
tune towards  founding  a  Catholic  college  in  Omaha,  or 
near  that  city,  and  it  was  to  be  known  as  "  Creighton 
College."  The  execution  of  this  design  was  left  by  Ed- 
ward Creighton  to  his  devoted  wife,  who  survived  him. 
Mrs.  Creighton  provided  in  her  last  will  that  $100,000 
of  her  estate  should  be  set  aside  to  establish  this  col- 
lege, —  one-half  the  amount  to  be  spent  on  the  building 
of  the  college,  and  the  remaining  half  to  be  invested 
securely  for  its  support.  Work  on  the  building  was 
begun  in  May,  1877,  and  it  was  made  ready  for  occu- 
pancy by  July  15,  1878.  On  July  23,  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
O'Connor,  with  the  priests  of  his  vicariate,  began  the 
exercises  of  a  spiritual  retreat  in  the  new  building,  which 
concluded  July  3ist.  Classes  were  begun  therein  on 
September  5th,  Rev.  R.  Shaffel  being  president,  and 
Rev.  H.  Peters,  three  scholastics,  and  two  lay  teachers 
conducting  the  classes.  There  were,  at  the  beginning 
of  February,  1879,  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  pupils 
in  actual  attendance. 

Rev.  Edward  A.  Higgins  was  installed  as  provincial 
of  Missouri  on  January  I,  1879,  succeeding  in  that  office 
Rev.  Thomas  O'Neil,  who  had  filled  the  position  from 
July  31,  1871. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

1879. 

THE  year  1879  completes  the  golden  cycle  measuring 
the  age  of  St.  Louis  University,  and  a  brief  contrast 
between  its  present  condition  and  what  it  was,  and  what 
its  surroundings  were  at  its  first  beginning,  will  make  it 
easy  to  estimate  the  results  accomplished  during  the 
fifty  years  of  its  existence.  It  actually  began  in  the 
rude  log  cabins  near  Florissant,  Missouri,  built  according 
to  primeval  pioneer  style,  with  a  small  number  of  boys 
from  St.  Louis  and  vicinity,  sons  of  well-to-do  families, 
who  were  removed  to  St.  Louis  when  the  college  build- 
ing there  erected  in  1829  was  made  ready  for  occu- 
pancy. The  university  now  has  eleven  buildings,  whose 
combined  length  is  about  eight  hundred  feet,  put  up  at 
a  total  cost  of  $250,000,  to  say  nothing  of  large  addi- 
tional sums  spent  in  repairing  or  improving  them. 
Though  possessing  no  endowment,  or  other  revenue 
except  what  it  derives  from  the  fees  of  students  for 
board  and  tuition,  it  has  a  select  and  valuable  library 
of  twenty-five  thousand  volumes,  a  museum  of  natural 
history,  a  collection  of  instruments  for  the  classes  of 
physics  and  chemistry,  including  many  curious  and 
costly  objects.  When  the  college  began  its  first  session, 
after  the  transfer  from  the  "  Indian  Seminary  "  to  St. 
Louis,  in  1829,  there  were  fourteen  members,  all  told, 
belonging  to  the  Jesuit  mission  of  Missouri,  —  eight 
priests  and  six  lay  brothers.  At  the  beginning  of  the 

(US) 


136  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

year  1879,  the  number  had  reached  three  hundred  and 
thirty- four. 

The  average  number  of  students  for  each  of  the  last 
ten  years  was  three  hundred  and  fifty-two ;  the  average 
number  of  new  names  or  new-comers  annually  regis- 
tered during  the  last  fifty  years  was  nearly  one  hundred 
and  fourteen,  or  the  total  number  of  names  registered 
(some  of  the  students  remaining  at  the  institution  several 
years,  in  some  instances  seven  or  eight  years)  was  five 
thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-four.  The  total  num- 
ber receiving  degrees  in  the  literary  and  scientific  depart- 
ment was  :  of  A.B.,  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight ;  A.M., 
eighty-one;  LL.D.,  seventeen  ;  B.S.,  five  ;  diplomas  given 
to  candidates  completing  the  commercial  course,  two- 
hundred  and  seventeen.  Many  among  the  most  eminent 
and  useful  citizens  of  St.  Louis,  and  of  a  large  district 
around  it,  in  Missouri,  Illinois,  and  other  Western 
States,  as  well  as  many  in  the  Southern  States,  re- 
ceived their  collegiate  education,  either  wholly  or  else 
in  part,  at  the  St.  Louis  University.  This  may  be  veri- 
fied by  inspecting  the  catalogue  of  its  alumni ;  but 
not  all,  by  any  means,  of  its  students  who,  in  the  higher 
walks  of  life,  have  done  honor  to  their  alma  mater  are 
mentioned  in  that  honorable  list.  Not  a  few  physicians, 
now  at  the  head  of  their  profession  in  St.  Louis,  received 
their  degree  of  M.D.  at  the  university,  as  did  many 
others  who  became  eminently  successful  in  other  locali- 
ties there  receive  their  medical  diplomas  during  the 
time  —  not  an  inglorious  period  of  its  history  —  when  the 
St.  Louis  Medical  College  was  under  the  charter  of  the 
university,  and  its  diplomas  were  conferred  by  the 
president  of  that  institution. 

The  university  has  grown  up  with  the   city  itself  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  I3/ 

St.  Louis,  which,  when  the  college  began,  in  1829,  was 
as  yet  only  a  frontier  town, —  a  principal  outpost  on  the 
border  of  the  "Far  West."  The  time  is  still  remem- 
bered by  elderly  persons  when  "  The  College  "  was  one 
of  the  chief  objects  pointed  out  to  the  stranger  visiting 
the  city  ;  hence  it  was  that,  in  1836,  Daniel  Webster  had 
a  formal  reception  at  the  institution,  given  by  request 
of  citizens  friendly  to  the  establishment;  and  a  like 
occurrence  happened  some  years  later,  when  Vice- 
President  Richard  Johnson  was  an  honorable  guest  of 
the  city ;  as  also  when  the  fastidious  Charles  Dickens 
visited  St.  Louis.  The  city  has  now  greatly  outgrown 
its  former  size,  as  well  as  outgrown  what  it  was  to 
become,  as  its  future  was  painted  in  the  most  sanguine 
expectations  of  the  inhabitants  constituting  its  popula- 
tion fifty  years  ago ;  and  while  the  university  has  not 
kept  pace  with  the  giant,  compared  to  which  it  is 
now  so  insignificant,  yet  it,  too,  has  grown  to  be  a 
giant,  in  comparison  with  what  it  was  when  it  came 
into  being,  a  half  century  since.  During  that  long 
period  it  was  never  under  any  dark  cloud  ;  it  never 
forfeited  the  confidence  or  lost  the  esteem  of  its 
friends  ;  and  it  was  never,  even  but  for  one  session, 
bereft  of  its  substantial  prosperity,  the  number  of  its 
students  being  always  relatively  large. 

All  the  officers  and  professors  by  whom  the  institu- 
tion was  first  organized  and  conducted  are  now  dead. 
Of  its  twelve  presidents,  only  six  are  living  ;  few  of  the 
professors  who  occupied  its  chairs  previous  to  the  year 
1850  still  survive;  and  but  one  remains,  Rev.  J.  B. 
Emig,1  who  taught  at  the  university  before  the  year 


1  Father  Emig,  who  now  exceeds  the  good  old  age  of  three  score 
and  ten,  is  at  Conewago,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  attends  to  parochial 
duties. 


138  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

1836.  There  have  sprung  from  the  mother  house,  near 
Florissant,  Missouri,  —  still  the  nursery  of  its  young 
members,  with  a  community  of  seventy-six  members,  — 
six  flourishing  colleges  for  higher  education ;  x  one 
boarding-school  in  the  country,  where  elementary 
branches  are  taught;  twelve  churches  in  the  large 
cities  of  the  West  and  North-west,  with  their  attached 
parochial  schools ;  eight  churches  with  residences,  not 
here  to  enumerate  the  various  missions  established 
among  the  Indian  tribes,  or  the  congregations  organ- 
ized, with  churches  and  pastoral  residences  built  and 
paid  for,  after  which  they  were  committed  to  the  ordi- 
nary having  jurisdiction  over  the  district  in  which  they 
were  situated. 

Although  the  Jesuit  mission  of  Missouri  was  originally 
an  offshoot  of  the  Maryland  province,  it  having  been 
accepted  from  Bishop  Dubourg  in  1823  by  the  pro- 
vincial of  Maryland,  to  whom  it  remained  subject  till 
February  14,  1831,  yet  the  Jesuit  members  who  first 
came  to  the  West,  being  all  Belgians,  naturally  kept 
up  correspondence  with  their  friends  and  acquaintances 
in  Belgium  and  Holland.  It  thus  happened  that  they 
received  much  aid  from  their  native  land,  after  the  new 
college  in  St.  Louis  was  started  by  them.2  This  help 
was  given  to  them  in  the  shape  of  money,  books  for  the 
library,  instruments  for  the  class  of  physics,  utensils 
and  ornaments  for  the  church,  etc. ;  and,  at  a  later 


1  There  are  not  included  in  this   enumeration  the  college  at   Grand 
Coteau,  Louisiana;    St.  Joseph's  College,  Bardstown,  Kentucky;   or  St. 
Aloysius  College,  Louisville,  Kentucky. 

2  Prominent  among  their  benefactors  was  Charles  De  Neff,  of  Turn- 
hout.     Mr.  De  Neff  had  grown  rich  as  a  linen-draper;  after   the   death 
of  his  wife,  he  devoted  a  portion  of  his  fortune  to  the  establishing   of  a 
college  at  Turnhout,  in  which  young  men  were  educated  for  the  foreign 
missions. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  139 

period,  young  men  came  from  Belgium  and  Holland  to 
join  the  Jesuit  mission  of  Missouri,  one  hundred  of 
these  postulants  making  their  application  for  admission 
through  Father  De  Smet.  The  great  majority  of 
Jesuits  in  the  Missouri  province  of  the  society  were 
Belgians  and  Hollanders,  till  recent  years;  and  even 
yet  a  large  proportion  of  them  belong  to  those  nation- 
alities, though  they  are  no  longer  in  the  majority.  The 
natives  of  Holland  and  Belgium  I  have  peculiar  facility 
in  acquiring  the  English  language,  with  its  exceptional 
idioms  and  grammar,  its  accent  and  pronunciation,  so 
difficult  for  most  Europeans  to  acquire  in  any  high 
degree  of  perfection  ;  and  those  missionary  pioneers  to 
the  West  were  likewise  specially  felicitous  in  adapting 
themselves  to  the  social  manners  and  customs  of  the 
people,  and  to  the  laws  and  institutions  of  the  United 
States,  as  if  actually  the  most  congenial  to  them. 
Among  these  Belgians  and  Hollanders  who  for  many 
years  filled  the  offices,  professorships,  and  pulpits  under 
control  of  the  Jesuit  Society  in  Missouri,  some  may  be 
named  whose  reputation  lives  after  them,  and  who  dis- 
tinguished themselves,  not  only  for  their  acquirements 
as  priests  and  professors  in  the  colleges,  but  also  for  those 
accomplishments  that  rendered  them  acceptable  and 
useful  likewise  to  the  general  public  :  as,  Rev.  P.  J.  Ver- 
haegen,  Rev.  James  Van  de  Velde,  afterwards  Bishop 
of  Natchez  ;  Rev.  Cornelius  Smarius,  one  of  the  ablest 
pulpit  orators  in  the  United  States,  of  his  day ;  2  Rev. 


1  St.  Francis  Xavier,  in  writing  from  the  East  Indies  to  St.   Ignatius 
for  some  assistance,  added  to  his  request,  "  Mitte  Belgas." 

2  A  published  volume  of  Father  Smarius's  lectures  has  gone  through 
many  editions.     His  lecture  on  "The  Christian  and  the  Pagan  Family" 
was    universally   admired   in    St.   Louis,    where    it    was   several    times 
repeated,  by  request. 


140  HISTORY    OF    THE    ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

Louis  Heylen,  whose  lectures,  so  much  admired  by  many 
discerning  persons  for  the  solidity  of  their  learning,  the 
newness  and  beauty  of  their  thoughts,  and  the  faultless 
elegance  and  the  manly  strength  of  their  language, 
were  republished  in  England,  where  they  were  also 
highly  prized  ;  Rev.  Joseph  Fastre,  who,  though  he  con- 
fined his  literary  undertakings  to  the  humbler  task  of 
translating  excellent  works  from  the  Latin  and  French 
languages  into  English,  was  so  thoroughly  master  of  all 
those  tongues  that  the  authors  whose  productions  he 
rendered  into  English  lost  nothing,  and  some  of  them 
gained  in  literary  perfection  by  being  clothed  in  Father 
Fastre's  pure  and  classical  English.  As  for  Father  De 
Smet,  his  fame  is  world-wide.  Many  of  his  published 
writings  were  originally  composed  by  him  in  the  French 
language,  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  were  addressed 
to  friends  in  Belgium,  where  French  is  the  tongue 
spoken  in  polite  society ;  yet  his  diaries,  letters,  and 
addresses,  which  were  written  by  him  in  the  English, 
are  correct  and  vigorous  in  style,  at  the  same  time  that 
they  are  exceedingly  interesting,  and  oftentimes  charm- 
ing, for  the  beauty  of  their  matter.  Thus,  these  found- 
ers of  the  Missouri  province  acquired  the  language  and 
thought  of  the  people,  and  caught  the  spirit  of  the 
country,  which  they  used  for  noble  aims,  at  the  same 
time  that  they  fulfilled  the  apostle's  behest  of  making 
themselves  "  all  to  all." 

It  must  be  said  that  those  who  have  followed  after 
the  early  Belgian  pioneers,  and  are  still  living,  are  not 
unworthy  successors  of  those  apostolic  men ;  but  an 
account  of  their  merits  will  pertain  to  the  history  of  the 
university's  centenary.  Since  the  year  1858,  when  Rev. 
J.  B.  Druyts,  then  vice-provincial  of  Missouri,  estab- 
lished a  scholasticate  or  seminary  for  the  higher  educa- 


GRADUATES. 


141 


tion  of  young  aspirants  to  the  priesthood,  the  members 
joining  the  society  in  Missouri  have  enjoyed  advantages 
of  cultivation  in  science  and  literature  never  possessed 
by  those  who  had  been  previously  educated  in  the 
Western  province.  The  permanent  advancement  thus 
made  justifies  confiding  expectations  that  the  next  half 
century  will  also  show  a  due  proportion  of  growth  in 
the  St.  Louis  University,  as  well  as  in  all  other  zealous 
works  of  the  Missouri  province  ;  and,  therefore,  that  the 
centenary  of  the  St.  Louis  University  will  display  a 
progress  in  development  as  much  beyond  what  it  is 
now,  as  the  institution  is  now  beyond  what  it  was  when 
it  first  began,  fifty  years  ago. 


Names  of  all  ivho  received  degrees  in '  the  literary  and 
scientific  department  of  the  St.  Louis  University,  and 
of  those,  also,  on  whom  was  conferred  the  honorary 
degree  of  LL.D.  1834.  — 


Year. 

Degree.                  Names. 

Professions. 

Residence. 

I834J 

A.M. 
A.B. 
ct 

*John  Servary 
*P.  A.  F.du  Bouffay 
*  Peter  A.  Walsh 

Literature 

Baltimore,  Md. 
St.  Louis  Co.,  Mo. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1835   j 

A.M. 

« 
n 

« 

*Bryan  Mullanphy 
*Benjamin  Eaton 
*Barthol.  McGowan 
*Jeremiah  Langton 

Literature 
« 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Ireland. 

it 

I836  | 

A.B. 
ii 

*Joseph  Puch  y  Bea 
*John  Shannon    . 

. 

Campeche,  Mex. 
Natchez.  Miss. 

I838  | 

A.M. 
A.B. 

« 

*Jas.  W.  Sunderland 
Valsin  Dupuy 
*Theophilus  Littell 

Professor       .      New  England. 
.     llberville,  La. 
.     jOpelousas,  La. 

*  Deceased. 


142 


GRADUATES. 


J  'ear. 

1  Degree 

Names. 

Professions. 

Residence. 

1840   J 

A.B. 

*Wm.  X.  Guilmartin 
Jos.  G.  H.  Kernion 

. 

{Pennsylvania. 
New  Orleans,  La. 

1841    J 

A.B. 

Payton  Spence 
*John  J.  Morgan 

. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Madison,  La. 

r 

A.B. 

Henry  B.  Kelly    . 

.... 

New  Orleans,  La. 

1842  J 

" 

Alex.  J.  P.  Garesche 

.... 

Wilmington,  Del. 

1 

" 

*Theodosius  Barret 

.        .        .        . 

Kentucky. 

A.M. 

*Wm.  X.  Guilmartin 

Professor 

Pennsylvania. 

A.B. 

J.  Richard  Barrett 

... 

Kentucky. 

" 

Fred.  P.  Garesche 

...» 

Wilmington,  Del. 

« 

*Isaac  Cooper 

.... 

St.  Louis  Co.,  Mo. 

" 

*Edward  J.  Carrell 

.      .      .      . 

Louisville,  Ky. 

r 

A.B. 

Thomas  M.  Finney 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1844  J 

4< 

Didier  Guyon 
*F.  Leavenworth 

.      .      .      . 

Mt.  Vernon,  Ind. 

I 

" 

Ferd.  L.  Garesche 

.... 

Wilmington,  Del. 

r 

A.M. 

*Edward  J.  Carrell 

Law   . 

Louisville,  Ky. 

A.B. 

Ellsworth  F.  Smith 

... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

845  1 

" 

J.  S.  B.  Alleyne   . 

.      .      .      . 

"             " 

1846  { 

A.M. 
A.B. 

Henry  B.  Kelly    . 
Lucien  Carr 

Law   . 

New  Orleans,  La. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

(. 

r 

A.M. 

*John  J.  Morgan 

Madison,  La. 

1847  \ 

*« 

Ellsworth  F.  Smith 

Medicine 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

( 

" 

J.  S.  B.  Alleyne  . 

" 

"             " 

8  8  / 

A.M. 

Alex.  J.  P.  Garesche 

Law    . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1  4    I 

" 

*Philip  McKeever 

.      .      .      . 

New  Orleans,  La. 

r 

In  consequence  of  t 

ic  cholera,  the 

students  were  sent 

1849  j 

home  before  the  us 

ual  time;    henc 

*  no  degrees  were 

l 

given. 

1850  { 

A.B. 
ft 

*Thomas  R.  Harvey 
John  Harty 

.... 

Siline  Co.,  Mo. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

L 

r 

A.B. 

John  I.  Coghlan  . 

Ireland. 

« 

Edward  T.  Parish 

.... 

Woodville,  Miss. 

g 

" 

Ed.  I.  Fitzpatrick 

. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

52 

« 

*William  Linton 

.... 

«             n 

" 

*Homer  Mille      . 

. 

Manchac,  La. 

" 

Sdmond  Trepagnier 

.      .      .      . 

St.  Charles,  La. 

*  Deceased. 


UNIVERSITY 


GRADUATES. 


Year.        Degree. \ 


Xanies. 


Professions . 


Residence. 


r 

A.M.   *Thos.  A.  Lonergani  Medicine 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1853  ] 

"      jFrancis  L.  Haydel 

tt 

St.  James,  La. 

( 

"       Frederic  Ihmsen 

A.B.  .      .      .* 

Pittsburg,  Pa. 

r 

A.M.  |E.  Doumeing,  A.B. 

Medicine 

New  Orleans,  La. 

1 

"        Edward  T.  Parish     ILaw   . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1854  -j 

"        *\Villiam  Linton  . 

Literature 

Chicago,  111. 

A.B.    *Wi!liam  Kenny  . 

.      . 

Ireland. 

I 

"       *Adolph  Menard 

.      .      .      . 

Galveston,  Texas. 

A.M.   *Charles  A.  Pope 

Medicine 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

"       *Moses  L.  Linton 

14 

a             ft 

o  -  - 

"        Robert  A.  Bakewell    Law    . 

«             ft 

l855 

A.B.    *George  J.  Hood 

•           . 

tt             ft 

"       *  Edward  A.  Leavy 

... 

n             a 

"      ,*Henry  B.  Murphy 

.... 

Old  Mines,  Mo. 

r 

A.M.    -William  Kenny  . 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

I 

A.B.    Earth.  M.  Chambers 

... 

tt             ft 

i856 

"       Robert  Corcoran 

. 

it             tt 

"       John  H.  Reel        . 

. 

n             ft 

"        Emile  Webre  . 

St.  James  Par.,  La. 

V. 

1857  { 

A.M.   *Theodosius  Barrett 
"       J.  Richard  Barrett 

:  :  :  : 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
ft              ft 

r 

A.B.    *James  A.  Kelly  . 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1858-^ 

11       *Geo.  A.  Dickinson 

. 

ft             ft 

L 

"      :*Adolph  Webre  . 

.     .     .     . 

St.  James  Par.,  La. 

r 

A.M.    Frederic  W.  Elbreg 

Cincinnati,  O. 

1859  J 

A.B.    James  A.  Kennedy 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

I 

"       *Thomas  Grace    . 

.... 

ft             tt 

r 

A.B.    Aloysius  Averbeck 

Cincinnati,  O. 

"       Fugene  H.  Brady 

.... 

Louisville,  Ky. 

1860  -1 

"       *James  Keenan    . 

. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

"       Thomas  Lyons 

.... 

ff                           .4 

I 

"       Patrick  O'Reilly 

.     .     .     . 

t  f                           ft 

r 

A.B.    Rod.  W.  Anderson 

.... 

Collinsville,  111. 

'*        M.   M.  Boissac     . 

. 

St.  Gabriel,  La. 

1861  - 

"       Francis  X.  McCabe 

. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

"       *John  Moynihan  . 

. 

tt             ft 

. 

"        *Bernard  M.  Rice 

.... 

n             t« 

*  Deceased. 


144 


GRADUATES. 


Year. 

!  Degree. 

Names. 

Professions. 

Residence. 

\ 

A.B. 

John  Broderick    . 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

<• 

*John  H.  Ketterer 

.        .        •        . 

n             « 

1862   \ 

<  « 

*FrancisX.  Lamotte 

. 

«             « 

1 

« 

*John  Langton     . 

. 

a             « 

I 

" 

Louis  S.  Tesson  . 

.        .        . 

<«              « 

r 

A.B. 

Andrew  J.  Kennedy 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1863  J 

f| 

J.  F.  Conroy  . 

«             « 

•**wo  •< 

(I 

Gerald  L.  Griffin 

.... 

Madison,  Ind. 

A  M. 

*John  H.  Ketterer 

Law   . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

< 

•^Francis  X.  Lamotte 

1  1 

u             (i 

« 

Patrick  O'Reilly  . 

Divinity  . 

K             (i 

( 

J.  A.  Timmons,  A.B. 

Literature 

Bardstown,  Ky. 

i 

Julius  S.  Walsh,  A.B. 

. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1864  . 

A.B. 

« 

Santiago  Belden  . 
*James  A.  Butler 

.      . 

Monterey,  Mex. 
Cincinnati,  O. 

« 

Jules  J.  Desloge  . 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

« 

G.  W.   Fichtenkamp 

... 

u                  «« 

tt 

George  H.  Loker 

.... 

(«                  it 

« 

James  A.  Walsh  . 

.... 

11                  « 

r< 

Jos.  W.  Rickert   . 

.      .      .      . 

Waterloo,  111. 

LL.D. 

Alex.  J.  P.  Garesche 

Law   . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

« 

*Moses  L.  Linton 

Medicine 

< 

A.M. 

Francis  X.  McCabe 

Law   . 

« 

A.B. 

Francis  E.  Bonnet 

.      .      .      . 

< 

1865  - 

« 

H.  O.  Collins       . 

.... 

< 

(i 

Charles  W.  Knapp 

•      ... 

« 

<« 

Charles  C.  Lamotte 

.      .             • 

' 

tt 

Lewis  C.  Smith     . 

.      .             • 

(i 

. 

€t 

Francis  L.  Stuever 

.      .      .      . 

H 

r 

A.M. 

fames  A.  Kennedy 

Literature 

Waterloo,  111. 

rRfifi  J 

it 

j.  W.  Fichtenkamp 

Law   . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1  OOU    -< 

A.B. 

Wolsey  W.  Collins 

. 

a             « 

I 

« 

Bernard  Finney    . 

.      .      .      . 

«             « 

r 

A.M. 

H.  O.  Collins       . 

Law  . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

« 

Chas.  W.  Knapp 

H 

(  f                           U 

<  < 

Francis  L.  Stuever 

Medicine 

(1                  <« 

1867  j 

A.B. 

Shepard  J.  Barclay 

.... 

(I                  tl 

1 

« 

Don  Alonzo  Burke 

. 

Carlinville,  111. 

<« 

Charles  F.  Loker 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

« 

[ohn  B.  O'Meara 

.      .      .      . 

ii             ft 

*  Deceased. 


GRADUATES. 


145 


Year.       Degree  .                    J\  \  i  >nes  . 

Professions  . 

Residence. 

A.M. 

A.  J.  Cecil,  A.  B.       |  Professor 

Elizabetht'wn,  Ky. 

1868     ' 

1868 

Jeremiah  F.  Conroy 

Law   . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Gerald  L.  Griffin 

"... 

Memphis,  Tenn. 

I 

Andrew  J.  Kennedy 

"... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

r 

A.M. 

*Felix  McArdle    . 

Medicine 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

A.B. 

George  H.  Backer 

"             '* 

1869 

tt 

Charles  A.  Fanning 

. 

«             <( 

it 

Leon  Greneaux    . 

. 

Natchitoches,  La- 

i 

<< 

Robt.  J.  Holloway 
Louis  L.  McCabe 

.      . 

Shelby  ville,  111. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

A.M. 

Montrose  A.  Fallen 

Medicine 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

"       John  F.  McDermott 

Literature 

«                 u 

n 

Joseph  W.  Rickert 

Law    . 

Waterloo,  111. 

A.B. 

Daniel  D.  Burnes 

;  Weston,  Mo. 

1870 

" 

M.  T-  McLoughlin 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1 

" 

Joseph  A.  Mulhall 

.... 

"             « 

*« 

*Geo.  E.  Wilkinson 

. 

Yazoo  City,  Miss. 

" 

Louis  A.  Lebeau 

. 

Hermitage,  La. 

" 

Benj.  T.  McEnery 

. 

Monroe,  La. 

I    " 

Jefferson  L.  Mellon 

.      .      .      . 

Claysville,  Mo. 

r 

A.B. 

Louis  R.  Bergeron 

Hermitage,  La. 

(4 

William  T.  Humes 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

14 

Chas.  A.  Laforge 

.      .      .      .     (New.  Madrid,  Mo. 

" 

P.  Wm.  Proven  chere 

. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

" 

Valle  F.  Reyburn 

.... 

<«             « 

1A.M. 

Louis  A.  Lebeau 

Medicine 

Hermitage,  La. 

A.B. 

Eleuterio  Baca 

. 

Las  Vegas,  N.Mex. 

" 

John  M.  Breard   . 

i  Monroe,  La. 

" 

Robt.  M.  Breard 

a          « 

M 

Callender  J.  Lewis 

'. 

Frankfort,  Ky. 

I       " 

Edmund  R.  Lynch 

.      .      .      . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

A.M. 

Louis  R.  Bergeron 

Literature 

Hermitage,  La. 

" 

Daniel  D.  Burnes 

Law    . 

Weston,  Mo. 

1873  - 

M 

A.B. 

Jno.  A.  McMenamy 
James  N.  Burnes 

"... 

St.  Joseph,  Mo. 
Weston,  Mo. 

" 

*Henry  S.  Garesche 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

ft 

Ralph  W.  Humes 

.... 

u             « 

r 

A.B. 

Alfred  Bouvier 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

i874    ;; 

Matthew  F.  Burke 
Louis  J.  Hornsby 

;  Washington,  Ind. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 

I  " 

Francis  J.  Lutz     . 

.      .      .             "             " 

*  Deceased. 


146 


GRADUATES. 


Year. 

Degree 

Names. 

Professions. 

Resilience. 

A.B. 

A.  F.  McAllister 

. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

«« 

Thos.  ],  Reyburn 

. 

«             a 

1874  - 

« 

George  P.  Miron 
Amedee  V.  Reyburn 

• 

K                           « 
«                           (  ( 

(i 

].  Gaston  Soulard 

•        . 

<(                           (( 

i< 

Michael  Courtney 

Professor 

«                           «< 

,- 

A.M. 

*Henry  S.  Garesche 

Medicine 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

«< 

Wm.  A.  Garesche 

Law   . 

«             f 

« 

Edward  Walsh,  Jr. 

Civil  Engineer'g 

K                          (« 

1871; 

A.B. 

Tames  Boro 

Memphis,  Tenn. 

lo/  D   - 

•• 

Louis  H.  Jones    . 
Eugene  C.  Slevin 

.      .      .      . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Louisville,  Ky. 

f< 

Solomon  A.  Link 

.      .      .      . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

r 

A.M. 

R.  G.  Frost,  A.B. 

Law    . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

ti 

Francis  J.  Lutz    . 

Medicine 

((             <( 

A.B. 

Thos.  H.  Coppinger 

.... 

Alton,  111. 

" 

Wm.  E.  Furlong 

.... 

Milwaukee,  Wis. 

1876    . 

« 

James  W.  Garneau 

... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

" 

G.  Edmund  Graves 

.... 

Lebanon,  Ky. 

r« 

Jas.  J.  Harrison  . 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

il 

Alfred  H.  Kernion 

. 

New  Orleans,  La. 

. 

u 

J.  Henry  Koetting 

.... 

Milwaukee,  Wis. 

A.M. 

Louis  J.  Hornsby 

Law    . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

K 

J.  Gaston  Soulard 

Medicine 

it             « 

A.B. 

James  A.  Cain 

. 

Louisville,  Ky. 

ft 

Ashley  C.  Clover 

. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

<  t 

Joseph  Solari 

.... 

(t             <« 

f 

A.B. 

Andrew  Duggan 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

« 

James  E.  Hereford 

.... 

Florissant,  Mo. 

1878    - 

« 

John  J.  McNamara 

.... 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

B.S. 

Russell  K.  Price 

. 

Louisville,  Ky. 

. 

« 

Harry  D.  Wilkes 

.... 

«            <« 

' 

LL.D. 

J.  S.  B.  Alleyne   . 

Medicine 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

« 

Hon.  R.  A.  Bakewell 

Law    . 

« 

Hon.  J.  R.  Barrett 

it 

Qw 

it 

Jerome  K.  Bauduy 
Louis  C.  Boisliniere 

Medicine 

1879      - 

ii 

Hon.  H.  A.  Clover 

Law    . 

« 

Emile  Doumeing 

Medicine 

New  Orleans,  La. 

14 

Edward  T.  Farish 

Law    . 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

I* 

Hon.  A.  H.  Garland 

U.  S.  Senator 

Arkansas. 

" 

Elisha  H.  Gregory 

Medicine 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

*  Deceased. 


GRADUATES. 


147 


Year.       Degree 

Natnes. 

Professions. 

Re*  idence. 

\ 

'  LL.D. 

Hon.  Jas.  Halligan 
Hon.  Henry  B.Kelly 

Law    .      .      .      Union,  Mo. 
"...      New  Orleans,  La. 

<•' 

Timothy  L    Papin 

Medicine       .      St.  Louis,  Mo. 

it 

Hon.  T.  C.  Reynolds 

Law    ...             "              " 

« 

Ellsworth  F.  Smith 

Medicine        .             "             " 

A.M. 

< 

R.  W.  Anderson 
Walter  J.  Blakely 

.      Collinsville,  111. 
Literature      .      St.  Louis,  Mo. 

« 

Matthew  F.  Burke 

Law    .      .      .      Washington,  Ind. 

< 

James  A.  Cain 

Literature       .       Fairfield,  Ky. 

« 

Lucien  Carr    . 

Liter.  &  Science  Cambridge,  Mass. 

< 

B.  M.  Chambers  . 

A.B.    ...      St.  Louis,  Mo. 

<  < 

Ashley  C.  Clover 

Law    . 

H                           (( 

« 

Wolsey  W.  Collins 

"      .      .      .       San  Francisco,  Cal. 

« 

Thos.  H.  Coppingeri    "                         Alton,  111. 

a 

Wm.  A.  Hard  away 

Medicine       .      St.  Louis,  Mo. 

" 

Michael  F.  Healy 

Law    . 

ei                    K 

« 

Ralph  W.  Humes 

Literature 

<i                    i( 

"       William  T.  Humes 

"                          "             " 

«. 

Louis  H.  Jones 

((                                                     K                          4< 

1879   - 

ti 

Geo.  H.  Loker,  Jr. 

"       .      '.             " 

" 

John  J.  McCann 

Law    . 

<«                     <« 

«« 

M.  T-  McLoughlin      Divinity   . 

(i                    ti 

"      |P.  Wm.  Provenchere  Law    .      .      . 

(  i                     « 

"      JAmedee  V.  Reyburn  i  Literature 

«                     « 

« 

Valle  F.  Reyburn 

Law    . 

(  (                    (( 

« 

Eugene  C.  Slevin 

"... 

«                     « 

<( 

Louis  S.  Tesson  . 

Medicine 

Ft.  Custer,  Mont 

A.B. 

Wilber  N.  Beal    . 

.... 

U                           (I 

« 

L.  C.  Boisliniere,  Jr. 

. 

«  t                  « 

M 

Lashley  M.  Gray 

. 

California,  Mo. 

" 

Harrv  T.     HavHpl 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

"       James  W.  Kingston 
"        Francis  H.  Hobein 

.      .      .      .      Kansas  City,  Mo. 
.      .      .      .      St.  Louis,  Mo. 

« 

Robt.  T.  Venemann 

... 

Evansville,  Ind. 

a 

Edward  H.  Tones 

. 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

"       'William  H.  Lepere 

. 

«             n 

B.S. 

Joseph  A.  Clarkson 

... 

«<             a 

" 

John  W.  Hughes 

. 

Ohio. 

" 

Thos.  A.  Roberson 

.      .      .      . 

Arcadia,  Mo. 

CHAPTER     XII. 

THE  chapter  here  following  was  prepared  for  this 
volume  by  a  cultivated  scholar,  who  is  master  of  the 
subject  which  he  treats.  He  desires  the  fact  to  be 
recognized  that,  in  writing  this  account  of  the  "  Ratio 
Studiorum,"  he  has  made  a  free  use  of  Cretineau  Joli's 
thoughts  on  the  same  topics.1 

The  "  Ratio  Studiorum,"  the  plan  or  method  of  teach- 
ing and  studying,  is  laid  down  by  St.  Ignatius  in  the 
Constitution  and  Rules  of  the  Jesuit  Society,  which  he 
established.  This  "  Ratio  Studiorum  "  has  for  its  sub- 
ject-matter, principally,  the  humaniora,  or  the  branches 
of  polite  learning,  which  in  his  day  were  taught  almost 
exclusively  in  the  Latin  language;  but  his  method  itself 
is  applicable  to  any  of  the  polished  living  tongues  as 
well.  The  "  Ratio  Studiorum "  also  includes  within 
the  scope  of  its  subject-matter  the  higher  sciences,  —  as 
philosophy,  theology,  etc. 


THE  RATIO  STUDIORUM,  OR  SYSTEM  OF  EDUCATION 
ADOPTED  BY  ST.  IGNATIUS  FOR  THE  COLLEGES  OF 
THE  SOCIETY  OF  JESUS. 

I.      ORIGIN     OF     JESUIT     COLLEGES THEIR     OBJECT     AND 

WORK. 

The  "Ratio  Studiorum,"  or  system  of  studies  which 
was  adopted  by  the  Society  of  Jesus   from  its  origin, 


1  J.  Cretineau  Joli,  Histoire  de  la  Comp.  de  Jesus,  6  vols. 
(148) 


RATIO    STUDIORUM.  149 

more  than  three  centuries  ago,  was  nothing  more  than 
the  system  which  had  prevailed  in  the  universities  then 
flourishing  all  over  Europe,  with  such  modifications  as 
seemed  to  be  demanded  by  the  special  object  of  Jesuit 
colleges.  St.  Ignatius,  the  founder  of  the  society,  was 
aware  that  the  future  of  Christianity  depended  on  the 
Christian  education  of  youth ;  and  he  perceived  what 
efforts  were  made  by  the  leaders  of  the  movement 
against  the  Church  in  his  day  to  get  possession  of  the 
minds  of  the  rising  generation,  and  sow  in  them  the 
seeds  of  their  own  system  of  reform.  The  old  universi- 
ties themselves,  which  had  been  till  then  as  beacons  to 
the  nations  of  the  world,  the  safe  guides  and  instruc- 
tors of  men,  began  to  be  infected  with  the  new  doctrines, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  secure  the  youth  of  the  time 
against  the  errors  and  vices  which  threatened  them. 

St.  Ignatius  resolved  at  once  to  establish  colleges 
wherever  it  would  be  permitted,  and  to  draw  around 
the  chairs  of  his  teachers  as  many  as  possible  of  the 
young  men  whose  after  life  was  destined  to  exercise  an 
influence  on  the  world.  It  is  true  that  his  subjects 
were  few,  but  he  knew  their  ability,  and  he  hoped  that 
their  number  would  increase.  Besides,  the  education 
of  his  own  young  subjects  in  the  higher  branches  of 
literature  and  of  profane  and  sacred  science,  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  which  was  indispensable  to  their  voca- 
tion, required  the  establishment  of  "houses  of  studies," 
or  colleges  ;  and  the  presence  of  extern  students  with 
his  own  would  be  a  stimulus  to  greater  effort,  and  a 
means  to  secure  a  higher  culture  for  them  all. 

Jesuit  colleges  then  were  founded,  and  the  plan  of 
studies  and  government  so  wisely  laid  down  by  St. 
Ignatius  in  his  constitutions  was  carried  into  effect  with 


I5O  SYSTEM    OF    STUDIES. 

such  success  that  in  a  short  time  Italy,  Spain,  Portugal, 
and  even  Germany  and  the  Low  Countries,  saw  Jesuit 
colleges  in  their  cities,  crowded  with  scholars  in  every 
branch  of  literature  and  science.  The  number  of  these 
nurseries  of  virtue  and  learning  increased  as  time  ad- 
vanced, and  wherever  the  society  gained  a  foothold  in 
Europe,  Asia,  or  America,  colleges  were  established  as 
soon  as  there  was  a  prospect  of  their  successful  opera- 
tion for  the  good  of  religion.  And  such  was  the  popu- 
larity, the  renown  of  these  institutions  in  every  land, 
that  it  may  be  said  without  exaggeration  that  St.  Igna- 
tius educated  the  Catholic  youth  of  the  whole  world. 
Hence  it  follows,  that  so  long  as  successive  generations 
of  youth  were  trained  by  such  a  master,  the  revolution- 
ary spirit  which  had  been  aroused  against  the  Church 
could  hope  for  no  decisive  advantage. 

This  is  quite  sufficient  to  account  for  its  ceaseless  en- 
deavors to  get  possession  of  youth,  by  depriving  the 
Jesuits  of  the  power  to  teach.  Hence,  also,  that  con- 
tinual cry  against  Jesuit  education,  that  ever-growing 
animosity  of  the  universities  against  it ;  hence,  in  fine, 
the  lamentable  blow  which  destroyed  the  work  of  three 
centuries,  and  left  the  youth  of  Europe  to  the  treacher- 
ous training  of  Jansenism  and  infidelity. 

No  sooner  had  the  Christian  world  recovered  from 
the  shock  of  the  revolutions  which  had  resulted  from 
this  fatal  error,  than  the  society,  recalled  from  its  tomb, 
began  anew  the  work  of  education  ;  no  longer,  it  is  true, 
under  the  same  favorable  circumstances,  but  with  the 
same  zeal,  the  same  patient  devotedness,  the  same 
results  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  its  influence.  The 
system  which  had,  for  more  than  two  hundred  years, 
produced  such  admirable  fruits  was  revived  in  all  the 


RATIO    STUDIORUM.  1$! 

new  colleges,  and  was  religiously  observed  by  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  celebrated  teachers  of  the  ancient  society. 

But,  outside  of  Rome  and  a  few  other  cities,  whose 
rulers  had  the  courage  to  be  just,  none  of  the  former 
colleges  were  restored  to  the  society.  They  and  the 
possessions  attached  to  them  had  been  sold  or  appro- 
priated by  the  governments,  and  the  society  was  called 
upon  to  begin  anew.  The  face  of  Europe  is  covered 
with  seven  hundred  colleges,  and  thousands  of  other 
houses  and  churches,  which  once  belonged  to  the 
society  before  1773  ;  and  they  now  serve  as  monuments 
to  mark  a  sad  date  in  the  history  of  the  Church,  to  per- 
petuate the  memory  of  a  happier  past,  and  of  the  im- 
piety of  the  men  who  destroyed  it. 

But  this  did  not  deter  the  society  from  the  work  of 
education,  though  she  might  expect  to  see  her  institu- 
tions ruined  again  and  again.  It  was  her  vocation  to 
teach  wherever  she  could,  and  so  long  as  she  was  per- 
mitted to  do  so.  She  left  the  future  to  God,  and  took 
care  of  the  present.  Italy,  Austria,  France,  Spain, 
Switzerland,  even  England,  Ireland,  and  America  saw 
the  colleges  of  the  society  rising  up  in  the  first  years  of 
her  restoration,  and  already  many  of  them  have  reached 
a  high  rank  among  educational  establishments. 

2.    CATHOLIC     EDUCATION. 

As  was  remarked  above,  the  adequate  object  of  Jesuit 
education  is  to  train  up  a  race  of  enlightened  and  faith- 
ful Christians.  The  end  of  man  is  the  aim  of  St. 
Ignatius  in  all  his  work  :  not  this  world  alone,  nor  its 
duties,  enjoyments,  occupations;  but  duty  here  for  the 
sake  of  the  eternal  hereafter,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  it.  Secular  knowledge  is  used  as  a  means  for 


152 


SYSTEM    OF    STUDIES. 


conveying  along  with  it  the  more  precious  knowledge 
of  things  divine.  The  mind  is  used  as  an  avenue  to  the 
heart ;  truth  as  a  lever  to  elevate  the  soul  to  God. 

True  education  —  complete  education  —  consists  of 
mental  and  moral  training,  and  education  is  dangerous 
to  the  individual  and  to  society  unless  it  embrace  these 
two  parts.  The  history  of  the  last  two  hundred  years, 
with  its  bloody  revolutions,  its  fearful  crimes,  its  wit- 
ness to  the  increase  of  disorders  of  the  worst  kinds  in 
every  grade  of  society,  is  enough  to  warrant  the  con- 
clusion that  mental  development  alone  serves  only  to 
put  deadly  weapons  into  the  hands  of  madmen  for  the 
destruction  of  their  fellows. 

Catholic  education,  then,  aims  mainly  at  the  heart ; 
and  by  preserving  its  purity,  by  elevating  its  desires,  by 
ennobling  it  with  the  hopes  of  immortality,  by  re- 
pressing the  gross  passions  which  would  lay  waste  the 
whole  nature  —  body  and  mind  and  soul  —  if  left  unre- 
strained, it  gives  to  the  mind  that  tranquillity,  that 
vigor,  which  enable  it  to  grapple  successfully  with  the 
difficulties  of  science,  and  thus  secures  the  end  of  all 
true  education.  It  aims  at  planting  in  the  heart  such 
principles  of  rectitude  as  will  forever  after  serve  as  a 
guide,  a  check,  a  warning,  a  stimulus  ;  pointing  always 
to  the  end  to  be  reached  —  eternity;  deterring  from  the 
devious  by-paths  which  are  so  artfully  contrived  to 
deceive  the  unwary  ;  whispering,  like  a  guardian  angel, 
of  evil  wherever  it  appears,  and  however  it  is  diguised ; 
and  urging  onward  and  upward  along  a  path  which  is 
arduous  indeed,  but  on  which  faith  reflects  the  light  of 
heaven.  And  surely  this  must  be  confessed  to  be  the 
only  effectual  means  to  prevent  evil ;  for  unless  there  is 
in  the  heart  a  love  of  virtue  above  all  else,  an  esteem  of 


RATIO    STUDIORUM.  153 

what  is  true  and  good  above  every  merely  temporal 
advantage,  and  a  firm  resolve  never  to  sacrifice  duty  or 
virtue  to  pleasure,  interest,  honor,  or  any  thing  whatever 
that  is  unworthy  of  an  immortal  spirit,  all  laws  will  ever 
be  in  vain,  all  vigilance  will  ever  be  eluded,  and  vice 
will  prevail  among  men. 

3.    THE     IDEA     OF     ST.    IGNATIUS. 

It  is  for  this  noble  end  that  St.  Ignatius  desired  to 
see  young  hearts  placed  at  his  disposal,  — hearts,  such  as 
God  had  made  them,  untainted  as  yet  by  the  breath  of 
vice, —  minds  unsullied  by  the  knowledge  of  evil,  so  that 
he  might  have  the  first  forming  of  the  character,  plant- 
ing the  good  seed  and  watching  its  growth,  aiding  its 
development  till  it  reaches  perfection.  Hence  his  plan 
of  studies  begins  with  the  elementary  branches,  sup- 
posing only  such  knowledge  of  the  vernacular  as  a  child 
of  ten  or  twelve  years  has  ordinarily  acquired  at  home  ; 
and  then  he  gradually  leads  his  pupil  upward  through 
the  several  grades  of  literature,  classical  erudition, 
science  both  physical  and  mental,  till  the  student  is  pre- 
pared to  enter  upon  the  special  professional  course 
which  he  may  have  chosen.  If  then  the  choice  falls  on 
theology,  St.  Ignatius  provides  him  with  a  thorough 
course  of  ecclesiastical  science  in  every  branch.  And,  to 
say  the  truth,  this  is  the  main  object  of  the  colleges:  to 
train  up  a  succession  of  virtuous  and  learned  men  for 
the  defence  of  religion  and  the  service  of  the  Church, 
though  by  no  means  excluding  others  who  are  destined 
for  other  walks  of  life,  and  who,  entering  them  with  the 
principles  instilled  into  them  during  their  preparatory 
years  at  college,  will  always  be  an  ornament  to  their 
faith,  and  will  exert  their  influence,  on  all  occasions,  in 
favor  of  truth  and  justice. 


154  SYSTEM  OF  STUDIES. 

4.  GENERAL  PLAN  OF  STUDIES. 

Thus  we  see  that  St.  Ignatius  comprises  in  his  scheme 
of  studies  the  entire  range  of  human  knowledge,  each 
separate  part  complete  in  itself,  each  preparing  the  way 
for  another,  higher  and  better,  and  all  united  into  a 
system  at  once  beautiful  and  strong,  varied  and  yet 
one.  The  foundation  is  laid  by  the  knowledge  of 
words,  their  meaning,  their  forms,  and  etymology. 
Words  are  next  marshalled  into  sentences,  which  syn- 
tax renders  correct,  precise,  perspicuous.  Copiousness 
of  diction,  as  well  as  elegance,  is  taught  by  poetry  and 
rhetoric,  whilst  the  main  object  of  these  arts  is  fully  de- 
veloped in  the  various  kinds  of  poetical  and  oratorical 
composition.  And  thus  far  the  many  accessory  sources 
of  erudition  have  been  kept  open  to  the  youthful 
mind, — history,  geography,  antiquities,  —  in  addition 
to  the  elementary  branches  of  mathematics,  all  tending 
to  train,  to  enrich  the  mind,  and  to  furnish  materials  for 
future  use. 

Next  comes  logic,  which  teaches  the  art  of  reasoning; 
metaphysics,  in  its  various  divisions,  —  so  little  esteemed, 
and  yet  so  worthy  of  constant  study,  the  science  of  the 
mind,  the  highest  and  noblest  of  all  sciences  purely 
human.  Along  with  this,  the  physical  sciences  and  the 
higher  mathematics,  for  the  study  of  which  the  mind  is 
only  then  sufficiently  developed,  claim  the  student's 
attention.  Thus,  the  whole  sphere  of  what  nature  offers 
to  man's  knowledge  is  embraced  in  the  course  of  phi- 
losophy. And  all  this  which  has  been  hitherto  accom- 
plished, though  magnificent  in  itself,  yet  receives  its 
crown  and  its  ultimate  perfection  from  theology,  and 
has  its  centre  there.  Theology  is  the  end  of  all,  be- 


RATIO    STUDIORUM.  155 

cause  God  is  the  end  of  all,  as  He  is  the  source  of  all 
truth,  whether  of  matter  or  of  mind,  of  earth  or  of 
heaven. 

5.    THE    CATHOLIC    UNIVERSITY. 

This  gives  us  the  only  true  idea  of  a  Catholic  educa- 
tion, as  well  as  of  a  Catholic  university,  whence  that 
education  is  to  be  derived.  Theology,  the  queen  of 
sciences,  is  and  must  be  the  centre  to  which  all  else 
tends ;  the  key-stone  of  the  arch,  the  ratio  essendi  of  all 
the  rest;  the  bond  of  unity,  the  source  of  light,  the 
synthetic  object  of  the  entire  system.  It  is  true  that  not 
every  student  of  the  Catholic  college  is  destined  to  be 
a  theologian ;  nor  is  it  desirable  that  he  should  be  one, 
in  the  sense  that  he  should  devote  himself  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  altar,  though  it  were  well  if  every  Catholic 
were  sufficiently  versed  in  theology  to  taste  the  beauties 
and  the  sweetness  of  his  faith,  to  explain  and  defend  it 
when  it  is  misrepresented  and  attacked.  But  it  is  true 
that  in  so  far  as  he  remains  below  the  standard,  in  so 
far  as  he  fails  to  complete  the  curriculum,  in  so  far  his 
education  is  defective  and  unfinished.  If  the  object  of 
education  were  limited  to  this  life,  to  this  world,  and  to 
material  interests,  we  could  be  satisfied  with  such 
studies  as  would  enable  us  to  draw  the  greatest  amount 
of  profit  or  pleasure  from  material  things.  And  this, 
unfortunately,  is  the  tendency  of  modern  thought  and 
modern  education.  But  if  education  is  to  have  tempo- 
ral interests  for  its  secondary  object  only,  whilst  its 
chief  end  should  be  to  prepare  man  for  his  eternal  des- 
tiny, to  lead  matter  and  mind,  body  and  soul,  back  to 
God  who  gave  them ;  if  God  is  the  end  of  man  and  of 
all  life,  then,  without  doubt,  modern  materialism  in 
education,  as  well  as  in  every  thing  else,  is  leading  man- 


156  SYSTEM    OF    STUDIES. 

kind  back  to  barbarism,  and  is  sacrificing  man's  best 
interests,  and  crushing  out  his  noblest  aspirations. 

We  do  not  here  intend  to  disparage  the  study  of  the 
natural  sciences,  and  the  proof  of  this  is  abundantly 
evident  from  the  scheme  of  studies  proposed  by  the 
"  Ratio  Studiorum,"  where  all  due  prominence  is  given  to 
these  branches ;  nor  do  we  deny  the  many  advantages 
derived  from  the  wonderful  progress  made  in  our  day, 
in  all  that  regards  material  development.  But  let  us 
.not  degrade  our  humanity  by  clinging  exclusively  to  the 
world,  by  a  total  neglect  of  the  noblest  of  all  sciences,  — 
the  science  of  the  mind,  and  the  science  of  God.  Let 
us  study  nature,  and  learn  the  secrets  that  lie  concealed 
in  air  and  sea,  in  forest  and  field,  in  rock  and  pebble 
and  shell,  in  the  starry  vault  above  our  heads,  and  in 
the  prolific  bowels  of  the  earth  under  our  feet;  but  let 
us  study  all  this  magnificent  mechanism  without  for- 
getting its  great  author,  "  who  has  left  the  world  to  our 
disputations,"  and  "whose  invisible  being  and  perfec- 
tions are  made  manifest  by  the  visible  creation  of  His 
mighty  hand."  Nature  must  lead  us  to  God,  and  the 
study  of  nature  must  be  subordinate  to  the  higher  study 
for  which  man  was  ordained ;  for  God  is  the  centre  of 
all,  and  all  must  tend  to  Him,  or  be  worthless  and 
dangerous. 

6.    OPPOSITION    TO    THE    SYSTEM. 

Such  is  the  grand  ideal  of  education,  according  to  St. 
Ignatius,  and  it  is  at  this  ideal  that  his  followers  have 
aimed  in  their  efforts.  It  would  be  difficult  to  say  what 
would  be  the  condition  of  the  human  mind  to-day,  what 
effect  this  education  would  have  produced  on  the  public 
and  private  life  of  the  nations,  if  this  system  had  been 


RATIO    STUDIORUM.  157 

allowed  to  prevail.  But  it  was  doomed,  like  every  thing 
else  that  sprang  from  the  creative  zeal  of  Ignatius,  to 
be  a  sign  of  contradiction,  an  object  of  attack  from 
every  quarter.  The  Reformation  dreaded  it  as  its  most 
dangerous  opponent ;  the  worldly  powers,  jealous  of  the 
influence  of  the  Church,  looked  on  it  with  unconcealed 
distrust ;  whilst  the  great  universities  felt  that  a  formid- 
able rival  had  appeared,  that  would  in  time  eclipse  their 
fame  and  diminish  their  emoluments. 

The  Reformation  was  forced,  in  self-defence,  to  break 
loose  from  all  the  traditions  of  Catholic  science.  It  could 
not  retain  the  scholasticism  of  the  olden  time,  nor  the 
dialectics  of  Aristotle,  which  were  fatal  to  its  claims  and 
pretensions.  Hence  it  decried  scholasticism  as  a 
superannuated  tissue  of  puerile  distinctions,  and  it  in- 
vented an  inductive  philosophy  of  its  own,  which  has 
ended  in  rationalism  and  materialism;  and  education  in 
every  branch  was  infected  with  the  spirit  of  innovation, 
which  has  gone  on  changing  and  remodelling,  with  new 
names,  new  systems,  new  text-books,  till  we  never  know 
what  new  idea  will  be  born  from  one  day  to  another,  to 
live  for  a  little  while,  and  then  give  place  to  another. 
The  result  of  it  all  has  been  a  loss  of  depth  and  solidity, 
a  flimsiness  of  petty  branches  multiplied  without  end, 
studied  without  preparation,  and  therefore  learned  with- 
out profit.  Education,  as  it  is  called,  has  become 
shallow.  Depth  of  thought  has  been  replaced  by 
prettiness  of  expression  ;  great  literary  works  are  rare  ; 
and  science,  the  boast  of  our  age,  is  limited  to  physics, 
mechanics,  chemistry,  astronomy,  mathematics,  and  the 
like,  all  material  in  their  object,  and  pursued  with  a  view 
chiefly  to  their  application  to  matter. 

Hence  flow,  also,  the  disrepute  into  which   classical 


158  SYSTEM    OF    STUDIES. 

studies  have  fallen,  and  the  ignorant  prejudices  which 
have  settled  in  the  public  mind  against  them.  Latin 
and  Greek,  it  is  said,  are  of  no  use  in  business  or 
mechanics ;  it  is  a  waste  of  time  to  apply  to  them ;  give  us 
the  substantial  parts  of  a  good  business  education,  or  of 
science,  such  as  mathematics,  chemistry,  and  others, 
out  of  which  a  man  can  draw  a  livelihood  :  as  if  educa- 
tion had  no  end  in  view  beyond  dollars  and  cents,  or 
comfort  and  good  living.  But  it  is  useless  to  refute  such 
notions,  whether  we  consider  the  minds  which  are  im- 
bued with  them,  and  are,  by  their  ignorance  of  the 
subject,  incapable  of  being  enlightened,  or  the  minds 
which  reject  them,  and  which,  therefore,  know  the  full 
value  of  classical  studies,  and  the  important  part  they 
play  in  all  true  education. 

/.    ADAPTATION    OF   THE    SYSTEM    TO    THE    TIMES. 

We  must,  however,  take  the  world  as  it  is,  and  apply 
the  system  of  education  to  it  in  every  way  in  which  it 
is  willing  to  receive  it.  For  the  main  object  is  ever  the 
same,  —  the  training  of  truly  Christian  generations;  so 
that  St.  Ignatius  gives  secular  knowledge,  not  as  an  end, 
but  as  a  means  to  an  end.  He  teaches  youth  what  it 
desires  to  learn,  in  order  that  he  may,  at  the  same  time, 
teach  it  what  he  wishes  it  to  know,  —  that  higher  science 
which  fits  it  for  an  immortal  destiny.  In  his  day,  edu- 
cation had  received  its  fullest  development,  through 
the  gradual  progress  from  the  monastic  and  cathedral 
schools  of  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  grand  universities  of 
Paris,  Salamanca,  Bologna,  Rome,  and  many  others 
scattered  over  the  face  of  Europe.  The  spirit  of  inno- 
vation had  just  begun  to  invade  some  of  these  centres 
of  Catholic  thought,  and  was  threatening  others.  St. 


RATIO    STUDIORUM.  159 

Ignatius  made  haste  to  counteract  it.  He  seized  upon 
all  that  was  good  in  the  system,  which  five  centuries  had 
matured,  and  embodied  it  in  his  plan  ;  this  was  the 
simple,  but  comprehensive  course  of  the  old  schools: 
grammar,  the  humanities,  rhetoric,  philosophy,  and  theol- 
ogy, with  their  several  accessory  studies,  —  a  course 
which  had  been  followed  by  all  the  youth  of  Europe 
who  were  educated  and  were  destined  to  exercise  an 
influence  over  their  fellow-men  in  after  life. 

Ignatius  then  adopted  this  plan  and  introduced  it 
into  his  colleges,  with  such  precautions,  regulations, 
and  details  as  made  his  students  secure  against  danger 
from  without,  and  promoted  their  advancement,  not  only 
in  learning,  but  also  in  virtue. 

We  may  regret  that  education  has  changed  since 
those  days,  and  that  we  have  lost  the  thoroughness  of 
work  then  accomplished ;  but  such  regrets  are  vain. 
St.  Ignatius  knew  that  all  human  things  are  subject  to 
vicissitudes.  They  rise,  gradually  reach  their  acme, 
only  to  descend  again ;  and  then,  perhaps,  to  rise  again 
at  the  bidding  of  some  master-mind.  But  at  all  times 
it  would  be  necessary  to  have  men  of  strong  Christian 
principle,  and  that  practical  faith  which  alone  can 
triumph  over  temptation  ;  and  as  education  would  ever 
be  the  chief  means  to  the  end,  Ignatius  would  suit  his 
course  of  studies  to  all  times  and  to  all  changes  of  cir- 
cumstances, without,  however,  opening  the  door  to  wild 
schemes,  or  mere  apparent  improvements.  He  pro- 
vided for  the  adaptation  of  studies  to  various  times  and 
countries ;  but  he  would  have  changes  made  wisely, 
prudently,  with  due  consideration  of  what  was  in  itself 
the  best,  as  well  as  of  what  was  required,  or  what  could 
be  attempted  at  each  epoch. 


160  SYSTEM    OF    STUDIES. 

Hence  we  now  see  more  time  devoted,  more  promi- 
nence given  to  the  natural  sciences  ;  the  exact  sciences 
have  always  held  a  high  place  in  the  course.  Hence, 
also,  room  has  been  made  for  the  commercial  course, 
from  which  the  learned  languages  are  excluded  for  the 
sake  of  such  studies  as  immediately  prepare  the  young 
man  for  the  counting-house.  Special  courses  of  modern 
languages  are  introduced,  the  fine  arts  are  cultivated, 
and  the  sciences  which  prepare  young  men  for  mechani- 
cal pursuits  or  engineering  are  promoted.  In  a  word, 
as  the  object  is  to  give  a  Christian  education  to  as 
many  as  possible,  every  one  who  applies  should  be  able 
to  find  in  the  Catholic  college  or  university  the  course 
of  study  which  he  or  his  parents  desire,  as  the  one 
which  will  best  prepare  him  for  his  future  occupation 
or  station  in  life.  The  Jesuit  college  is  not,  then,  a  bed 
of  Procrustes,  into  which  every  mind  is  forced  and  com- 
pressed, and  there  fashioned  and  shaped  into  one  dead 
uniformity,  but  a  wide  and  spacious  nursery,  where 
each  plant  finds  its  congenial  soil,  and  is  not  only 
allowed,  but  helped  to  develop  its  own  beauties  and  its 
own  virtues. 

8.    THREE    COURSES    OF    STUDIES. 

This  naturally  divides  our  studies  into  three  distinct 
departments,  —  the  classical,  the  commercial,  and  the 
scientific.  The  first  is  the  one  best  suited  to  prepare  a 
young  man  for  all  the  uncertainties  of  the  future.  It  is 
not  often  that  a  lad  of  fourteen  has  a  definite  idea  of 
what  he  is  to  do  when  he  reaches  manhood  ;  and  even 
if  he  has  it,  there  are  many  accidents  which  may  turn 
him  aside  from  his  purpose,  or  make  it  desirable  for 
him  to  alter  his  course.  The  wisest  plan  is  to  study  in 


RATIO    STUDIORUM.  l6l 

such  a  manner  during  the  few  irrevocable  years  of 
youth,  that  when  manhood  comes,  with  its  prospects, 
its  offers,  its  laudable  ambition,  or  its  disappointments 
and  its  dire  necessity,  the  student  will  be  ready  to  meet 
it  in  whatever  shape  it  may  present  itself,  and  may 
stand  among  his  fellows  a  full-grown,  a  noble  man. 

The  classical  course  is  so  arranged  that  it  embraces 
all  the  studies  and  all  the  advantages  of  the  others,  and 
its  effect  on  the  mind  is  such  that  all  its  powers  are 
elevated  and  strengthened,  as  well  as  disciplined  and 
habituated  to  work.  We  must  never  forget  that  educa- 
tion differs  essentially  from  instruction,  and  its  office  is 
less  to  fill  the  memory  with  facts,  or  the  understanding 
with  knowledge,  than  to  develop  the  faculties  of  the 
mind,  and  prepare  them  for  the  work  of  life,  and  to 
repress  the  bad  passions  lest  they  should  blast  the  bud- 
ding promise,  and  to  cultivate  the  virtues  which  will 
adorn  the  character,  ennoble  every  energy,  and  secure 
man's  happiness  both  here  and  hereafter. 

The  details  of  this  course,  the  branches  included  in 
its  scope,  and  the  class-work  assigned  to  each  of  its  six 
years  are  set  down  in  the  annual  catalogues  of  the 
university,  so  that  it  is  deemed  unnecessary  to  repeat 
them  here  ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  this  course  alone,  fully 
and  successfully  gone  through  by  the  student,  entitles 
him  to  the  Baccalaureate  of  Arts,  —  a  step  to  the 
second,  or  Master's  Degree,  after  two  years  more 
devoted  to  professional  studies  or  to  a  literary  career. 

9.    THE    COMMERCIAL    COURSE. 

But,  however  desirable  these  studies  are  for  all  who 
aim  at  a  high  rank  among  their  fellows  by  means  of 
superior  education,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  many 


l62  SYSTEM    OF    STUDIES. 

students  either  refuse  to  pursue  them,  or  are  not  per- 
mitted to  do  so.  For  those  it  became  necessary  to 
provide  another  course  of  studies,  less  arduous  and 
more  brief  than  the  other,  and  embracing  only  such 
branches  as  would  be  useful  in  the  ordinary  avocation 
of  commerce  or  business  life. 

This  is  called  the  commercial  course,  and  it  runs 
through  four  years,  or  less,  according  to  the  proficiency 
of  the  student  when  he  enters  the  college.  Here  he 
finds  all  the  ingredients  of  a  good  English  education, 
besides  rhetoric,  mathematics,  physics,  and  chemistry 
(  not,  however,  so  fully  as  in  the  classical  course  ),  and 
those  studies  which  are  of  immediate  reference  to  busi- 
ness, —  as  book-keeping,  commercial  correspondence, 
etc.  On  the  successful  completion  of  these  studies, 
the  degree  of  Master  of  Accounts  is  conferred  on  the 
deserving  candidates. 

Penmanship  forms  an  essential  element  in  all  the 
lower  forms  of  both  courses,  and  is  daily  taught  by  an 
experienced  professor. 

IO.    THE   SCIENTIFIC   COURSE. 

But  as  certain  branches  of  science  are  not  fully 
developed  in  the  commercial  course, — as,  for  instance, 
physics  and  chemistry,  —  and  as  the  study  of  mental  and 
moral  philosophy,  which  is  of  such  paramount  impor- 
tance, hardly  enters  into  the  commercial  course  at  all 
beyond  logic,  it  was  desirable  to  furnish  an  opportunity 
for  the  more  thorough  study  of  those  branches  to  such 
members  of  the  commercial  department  as  might  have 
the  time  and  the  means  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
advantage. 

For  this  purpose  a  scientific  course  was  introduced  in 


RATIO    STUDIORUM.  163 

1877,  and  this  is  open  to  the  graduates  of  the  commer- 
cial course  for  one  year  after  their  graduation,  during 
which  they  attend  lectures  on  metaphysics,  ethics, 
astronomy,  and  higher  mathematics,  besides  continuing 
natural  philosophy  and  chemistry,  and  English  litera- 
ture. At  the  end  of  this  year  a  thorough  examination 
tests  the  success  of  the  students,  and  such  of  them  as 
have  stood  the  test  are  rewarded  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Science. 

It  has  already  become  evident  that  the  introduction 
of  this  course  has  supplied  a  want,  and  that  it  will  not 
only  remain  as  a  permanent  department  in  the  univer- 
sity, but  will  gradually  develop  and  increase  in  impor- 
tance, in  proportion  to  the  demands  of  students  and  to 
the  means  which  will  be  at  command  for  the  purpose. 

II.    OPTIONAL    BRANCHES. 

Optional  branches  also  form  a  part  of  the  plan  of 
studies,  such  as  the  modern  languages,  chiefly  the 
German  and  French,  which  are  considered  the  most 
useful  in  our  country.  Spanish  and  Italian  classes  can 
be  formed  whenever  they  are  called  for  by  a  sufficient 
number  of  pupils.  These  languages  can  be  taken  or 
not,  as  may  seem  best  to  parents  or  students,  and  only 
one  of  them  at  a  time  is  allowed  to  each  student,  lest 
he  should  be  engaged  on  too  many  subjects  at  once. 
By  taking  each  language  for  two  years  of  either  course, 
a  sufficient  knowledge  of  them  can  be  acquired  without 
detriment  to  other  studies. 

12.    THE    FINE    ARTS. 

The  fine  arts,  music,  drawing,  and  other  accomplish- 
ments are  at  the  option  of  students,  so  that  no  part  of 
a  refined  education  is  wanting. 


164  SYSTEM    OF    STUDIES. 

13.     ASSOCIATIONS     FOR     MENTAL,    MORAL,    AND    PHYSICAL 
IMPROVEMENT. 

As  additional  means  for  improvement,  both  moral 
and  mental  and  physical,  a  number  of  societies  or  asso- 
ciations exist,  with  the  approval  of  the  faculty,  among 
the  students  :  the  Sodalities,  for  the  moral ;  the  Students' 
Library,  the  Reading-Room  Association,  the  Philalethic 
Debating  Society,  for  the  mental ;  and  the  usual  games 
and  gymnastic  exercises  for  the  physical  development. 

The  Philharmonic  Society,  in  its  two  branches  of 
brass  band  and  orchestra,  and  the  Society  of  St.  Caecilia 
for  vocal  music,  afford  ample  facilities  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  musical  talent  in  the  young  amateurs. 

Weekly  exercises  in  elocution  in  all  the  classes, 
monthly  declamations  in  public  by  several  speakers 
chosen  for  the  purpose,  and  occasional  dramatic  per- 
formances are  the  means  employed  for  the  very  impor- 
tant object  of  training  the  students  to  elegance  and 
pnpressiveness  of  public  speaking. 

14.  THE  PREPARATORY  DEPARTMENT. 

Finally,  the  preparatory  department  descends  to  the 
elementary  branches  of  education,  for  the  benefit  of 
such  youthful  pupils  as  are  not  yet  prepared  to  enter 
even  the  lowest  class  of  either  the  classical  or  the  com- 
mercial course ;  and  they  remain  in  it  only  so  long  as 
may  be  necessary  to  fit  them  for  the  course  they  are 
destined  to  follow. 

15.    CONCLUDING    REMARKS. 

Thus,  we  see  that  the  "Ratio  Studiorum"  is  as  com- 
prehensive in  its  scope  and  as  thorough  in  its  efficiency 
as  can  be  desired  by  any  true  friend  of  education,  in  its 
best  and  widest  sense. 


RATIO    STUDIORUM.  l6$ 

Let  us  merely  add,  not  in  a  spirit  of  self-laudation, 
but  as  a  mere  matter  of  fact,  that  the  statement  here 
given  of  the  plan  of  studies  pursued  in  the  St.  Louis 
University  is  not  merely  prospective,  or  a  system  to  be 
aimed  at  in  the  future,  not  as  yet  really  and  fully  in 
practice,  but  one  which  is  at  this  moment  in  full  opera- 
tion in  its  every  detail,  under  a  faculty  of  twenty-six 
officers  and  professors. 

The  libraries  and  cabinets  of  philosophical  apparatus, 
and  of  specimens  in  the  various  departments  of  natural 
history,  are  the  growth  of  fifty  years,  during  which 
additions  have  been  continually  made  to  them,  partly  by 
the  liberality  of  benefactors,  partly  by  such  means  as 
the  college  itself  could  appropriate  to  the  development 
of  these  departments. 


THE  JUBILEE, 


CELEBRATED  ON 


TUESDAY,  JUNE  24,    1879 


OR    THE 


FIFTIETH    ANNIVERSARY 


OF 


THE    ST.    LOUIS    UNIVERSITY, 


(167 


[I.] 

PAPAL    BRIEF. 

BEFORE  the  close  of  the  scholastic  year,  on  June  26, 
1878,  it  had  been  decided  by  the  trustees  of  the  St. 
Louis  University  that,  as  the  year  1879  would  be  the 
fiftieth  year  since  the  university  was  originally  founded, 
or  the  university  would  then  complete  the  fiftieth  year 
of  its  existence,  the  interesting  occasion  should  be  com- 
memorated with  appropriate  religious  and  literary  ob- 
servances and  exercises.  It  was  further  suggested,  at  a 
subsequent  meeting  of  the  trustees,  that  it  would  be 
very  desirable,  and  also  becoming  the  character  of  the 
university  as  a  Catholic  institution,  for  its  president  to 
petition  a  special  benediction  on  the  university  from 
the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Leo  XIII.,  prayed  for  in  the 
name  of  the  trustees  and  faculty  of  the  university. 

Accordingly,  Rev.  Joseph  E.  Keller,  president  of  the 
university,  wrote  to  his  Holiness  the  following  letter, 
under  date  of  January  6,  1879,  which  was  presented  at 
the  Vatican  by  Very  Rev.  Torquato  Armellini,  secretary 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus  :  — 

"BEATISSIME  PATER:  —  Josephus  E.  Keller,  e  Societate  Jesu,  rector 
universitatis  ejusdem  societatis  in  civitate  Sancti  Ludovici,  Status  Mis- 
souri, in  America  septentrionali,  humiliter  ad  pedes  Sanctitatis  Vestrae 
provolutus,  notum  facit  hunc.  annum  quinquagesimum  esse  a  fundata 
universitate,  sociisque  Societatis  Jesu  qui  una  in  eadem  degunt,  sive  pro- 
fessores,  sive  magistri,  sive  aliis  et  domesticis  occupationibus  intenti  visum 
esse  hunc  annum  jubilaeum  maxima  turn  sacra  turn  literaria  sollemnitate 

(169) 


I/O  GOLDEN    JUBILEE. 

celebrare.  Multum  enim  juvare  putamus  ad  bonum  religionis  in  hac 
Americana  republica  si  Catholicae  educationis  praestantia  omni  qua  pos- 
sumus  ope  civibus  nota  ac  aestimabilis  reddatur ;  et  si  collegia  Catholica 
quam  maxima  laude  et  auctoritate  insigniantur. 

"Haec  autem  universitas,  jam  per  hos  quinquaginta  annos  in  hac 
palaestra  pro  suo  modulo  strenuam  operam  navavit,  licet  nulla  dotatione 
fulcita,  nullis  a  gubernio  subsidiis  adjuta,  imo  pressa  multis  gravibusque 
incommodis,  queis  solet  his  temporibus  quidquid  ad  Dei  gloriam  intend- 
itur  cc.'tatim  opponi.  Sed,  Deo  juvante,  cujus  honorem  tuebamur,  jam 
fere  6,000  juvenes  Christiana  eruditione  et  bonis  morum  principiis  prae- 
ditos  e  scholis  emisimus,  quorum  sive  pietatis  exemplo,  sive  etiam 
auctoritate  politioris  ingenii  nonnihil  emolument!  Christianae  reipublicse 
accessisse  confidimus. 

"Hoc  ut  in  posterum  cum  eadem  et  majori  adhuc  prosperitate  facere 
valeamus,  Sanctitatem  Vestram  suppliciter  postulamus  ut  turn  professori- 
bus,  magistris,  officialibus,  adjutoribus,  turn  alumnis  et  discipulis  ani- 
mos  addere  dignetur  verbis  paternae  benevolentiae  et  hortationis,  illisque 
omnibus,  turn  cunctis  patronis,  amicis,  fautoribus,  et  benefactoribus 
universitatis  hujus  apostolicam  benedictionem  largiatur." 

[Translation.] 

"  MOST  HOLY  FATHER  :  —  Joseph  E.  Keller,  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  rector  of  the  university  under  the  care  of  the  same  society  in 
the  city  of  St.  Louis,  State  of  Missouri,  North  America,  humbly  pros- 
trated at  the  feet  of  your  Holiness,  represents  that  this  is  the  fiftieth  year 
since  the  establishment  of  the  university,  and  that  all  the  members  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  institution,  as  professors, 
masters,  or  in  other  capacities,  have  deemed  it  advisable  to  mark  this 
jubilee  year  with  unusual  religious  and  literary  splendor. 

"  For  we  consider  it  of  great  advantage  to  the  cause  of  religion  in  this 
American  republic  to  have  the  excellence  of  Catholic  education  known 
and  esteemed  to  the  utmost,  and  Catholic  colleges  distinguished  by 
striking  tokens  of  honor  and  encouragement. 

"Supported  by  no  endowment,  assisted  by  no  government  aid,  nay, 
even  hard  pressed  by  the  many  and  great  difficulties  which  nowadays 
are  usually  thrown  in  the  way  of  every  thing  which  aims  at  the  glory  of 
God,  this  university,  during  these  fifty  years  just  past,  has  labored  strenu- 
ously within  its  sphere,  according  to  the  means  at  its  command.  And 
by  the  assistance  of  God,  whose  honor  we  regarded,  we  have  already 
sent  forth  from  our  schools,  provided  with  a  Christian  education  and  im- 
bued with  sound  moral  principles,  nearly  six  thousand  youths,  by  whose 


ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY.  I/I 

pious  example  and  reputation  for  accomplished  scholarship  we  trust  that 
the  Christian  Commonwealth  has  been  benefited  to  no  small  degree. 

"That  we  may  be  able  to  do  this  work  in  the  future  with  equal,  and 
even  greater  success,  we  humbly  beg  that  your  Holiness  may  deign  to 
encourage  the  professors,  masters,  officers,  and  assistants,  as  well  as  the 
students  who  live  with  us  or  merely  attend  our  schools,  by  words  of 
paternal  benevolence  and  counsel,  and  bestow  on  them,  as  also  upon  all 
the  patrons,  friends,  well-wishers,  and  benefactors  of  this  university,  your 
apostolic  benediction." 

Following  is  the  brief  of  His  Holiness,  Pope  Leo 
XIII.,  on  the  subject  of  the  Golden  Jubilee  of  the  St. 
Louis  University:  — 

Dilecto  Filio  Josepho  Keller,  e  Societate  Jesuy  Moderatori 
Archigymnasii  in  civitate  S.  Ludovici  constituti  in 
America  Septentrionali. 

LEO   P.  P.  XIII. 

Dilecte  fili,  salutem  et  apostolicam  benedictionem. 
Ex  tuis  litteris  ad  nos  datis  agnovimus  quinquagesimum 
jam  annum  expleri,  ex  quo  archigymnasium  istud  ad 
Catholicae  juventutis  bonum  in  ista  illustri  regione  Deo 
favente  constitutum  fuit,  ac  tuis,  eorumque  queis  prae- 
sides  in  votis  esse,  ut  in  hac  solemni  constitutionis  ejus 
memoria  vobis  omnibus  nostrae  benedictionis  solatium 
accedat. 

Cum  nobis  magnopere  cordi  sit,  dilecte  fili,  Catholicam 
juventutem  sanis  doctrinis  rectaque  morum  disciplina 
excoli,  ut  deinde  patriae  et  ecclesiae  praesidio  ac  orna- 
mento  esse  valeat,  plurimum  gaudemus  de  incolumitate 
ac  splendore  lycei  istius  in  quo  juvenes  sincera  ac  solida 
institutione  fruuntur,  ac  eximius,  uti  accepimus,  docen- 


ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

tium  zelus  in  magna  alumnorum  et  discipulorum  fre- 
quentia  refulget. 

Libenter  itaque  hujus  vestrae  celebritatis  occasione 
vobis  omnibus  paternae  nostrae  dilectionis  sensus  testifi- 
camur,  ac  vehementer  cupimus  ut  auxiliante  Domino 
haec  sedes  litterarum  et  scientiarum  uberibus  doctrinae 
et  virtutis  fructibus  majora  in  dies  incrementa  suscipiat. 

Auctor  ac  largitor  bonorum  omnium  Deus  in  te, 
dilecte  fili,  omnesque  qui  isthic  in  docendo  ac  discendo 
versantur  bonitatis  suae  divitias  propitius  effundat,  det- 
que  auspicem  esse  omnium  gratiarum  apostolicam  bene- 
dictionem,  quam  in  pignus  paternae  benevolentiae  nostrae, 
vobis  singulis  universis  peramanter  impertimus. 

Datum  Romae  apud  S.  Petrum  die  21  Maji,  an.  1879. 
Pontificatus  nostri  anno  secundo. 

[L.  s.]  LEO  P.  P.  XIII. 

[Translation.] 

To  our  beloved  son,  Joseph  E.  Keller,  S.J.,  President  of 
the  St.  Louis  University,  St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

Beloved  son,  health  and  apostolic  benediction  !  We 
have  learned  from  your  letter  addressed  to  us,  that  the 
fiftieth  year  is  now  completed,  since,  by  the  favor  of 
God,  the  St.  Louis  University  was  established  in  your 
illustrious  land  for  the  benefit  of  Catholic  youth ;  and 
that  you,  and  they  over  whom  you  preside,  earnestly 
desire  that,  in  the  solemn  commemoration  of  its  estab- 
lishment, the  consolation  of  our  blessing  may  be  granted 
to  you  all. 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  1/3 

Now,  as  we  have  it  greatly  at  heart,  beloved  son,  that 
Catholic  youth  should  be  imbued  with  sound  doctrine 
and  with  correct  moral  principles,  so  that  they  may 
hereafter  be  an  ornament  and  a  defence  to  their  coun- 
try and  to  the  Church,  we  sincerely  rejoice  at  the  pros- 
perity and  splendor  of  your  institution,  in  which  youth 
receive  a  genuine  and  solid  education,  and  in  which,  as 
we  have  understood,  there  shines  forth  a  remarkable 
zeal  in  the  professors,  amid  a  large  number  of  students, 
both  boarders  and  externs. 

Willingly,  therefore,  do  we,  on  the  occasion  of  this 
your  celebration,  testify  to  you  all  the  sentiments  of 
our  paternal  affection;  and  we  earnestly  desire  that, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  Lord,  that  seat  of  letters  and 
sciences  may  daily  receive  greater  increase  in  plentiful 
fruits  of  learning  and  virtue. 

May  God,  the  author  and  giver  of  all  good,  mercifully 
pour  forth  on  you,  beloved  son,  and  on  all  those  who 
are  there  engaged  in  teaching  and  in  study,  the  riches 
of  His  bounty,  and  may  He  grant  that  the  apostolical 
benediction,  which,  as  a  pledge  of  our  paternal  affec- 
tion, we  lovingly  bestow  on  you,  singly  and  collectively, 
may  be  an  earnest  of  every  grace. 

Given  at  Rome,  at  St.  Peter's,  the  2ist  day  of  May, 
in  the  year  1879,  the  second  year  of  our  pontificate. 

[Signed]     LEO  P.  P.  XIII. 

His  Holiness  had  previously  given  his  blessing  to  all, 
singly  and  collectively,  that  are  in  anywise  connected 


ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 


with  the  St.  Louis  University,  through  the  secretary  of 
the  Sacred  Congregation  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Faith,  as  is  shown  by  the  subjoined  document  from  that 
ecclesiastical  official  :  — 


Ex  Audientia  SSmi  die  23  Martii, 

SSmus  Dominus  Noster  Leo  Divina  Providentia  P.  P. 
XIII.,  referente  me  infrascripto  S.  Congnis  de  Propa- 
ganda Fide  secretario,  ad  preces  R.  P.  Josephi  E.  Kel- 
ler, Societatis  Jesu,  rectoris  Universitatis  Sancti  Ludo- 
vici,  omnibus  et  singulis,  qui  pro  suo  modulo  in  univer- 
sitate  praedicta  operam  navant,  nee  non  patronis,  fautori- 
bus  et  benefactoribus  in  signum  paternae  benevolentiae 
specialem  benedictionem  apostolicam  peramanter  im- 
pertire  dignatus  est. 

Datum  Romae  ex  aed.  S.  C.  die  et  anno  ut  supra. 
Gratis  quocumque  titulo. 

J.  B.  AGNOZZI,  Secret. 

[Translation.] 

At  an  Audience  on  the  23  d  of  March,  i8jq. 

His  Holiness,  Pope  Leo  XIII.,  by  the  Providence  of 
God,  Pope,  on  the  representation  of  the  undersigned, 
secretary  of  the  Sacred  Congregation  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Faith,  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  Rev.  Joseph  E. 
Keller,  S.  J.,  rector  of  St.  Louis  University,  was  pleased 
to  grant  to  all,  singly  and  collectively,  who  are  em- 
ployed in  the  university,  according  to  their  several 
degrees,  as  also  to  the  patrons,  friends,  and  benefactors 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  1/5 

of  the  same,  a  special  apostolic  benediction,  as  a  token 
of  his  paternal  benevolence. 

Given  at  Rome,  from  the  office  of  the   Sacred  Con- 
gregation, on  the  day  and  year  as  above.     Gratis. 

J.  B.  AGNOZZI,  Seer. 


[II.] 

HIGH  MASS  AND  SERMON. 

THE  following  account  of  the  solemn  High  Mass  on 
June  24th,  the  report  of  Bishop  Spalding's  learned  and 
eloquent  discourse,  together  with  the  afternoon  per- 
formances, the  speeches  there  pronounced,  as  also  the 
commencement  exercises  on  June  25th,  was  compiled 
from  the  St.  Louis  morning  papers,  the  Globe-Democrat, 
the  Times-Journal,  and  the  Republican  ;  but  especially 
from  the  Republican,  whose  report  was  very  full  and 
accurate. 


THE  SOLEMN  HIGH  MASS  — BISHOP  SPALDING'S  SER- 
MON—THE PRIESTS  PRESENT  AT  THE  SERVICE  — 
THE  MUSIC  OF  THE  MASS. 

Yesterday,  the  date  fixed  for  the  celebration  of  its 
golden  jubilee,  was  a  notable  one  in  the  history  of  the 
St.  Louis  University.  At  as  early  an  hour  yesterday 
morning  as  eight  o'clock,  people  commenced  assem- 
bling on  the  square  in  front  of  St.  Francis  Xavier 
Church,  corner  of  Ninth  Street  and  Christy  Avenue. 
The  occasion  was  the  grand  Pontifical  Mass,  celebrating 
the  fiftieth  anniversary,  or  golden  jubilee  of  the  univer- 
sity. The  doors  were  opened  shortly  before  nine 
o'clock,  and  the  large  crowd  made  a  rush  for  them. 
Admission  to  the  church  was  had  by  tickets  only,  and 
not  a  few  were  compelled  to  withdraw  from  the  doors, 

(176) 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  I// 

lacking  the  necessary  cards  of  admission.  The  disap- 
pointed ones  went  sorrowfully  away.  Inside  the  church, 
those  who  had  obtained  entrance  were  accommodated 
with  seats  by  smiling  ushers  in  dress  coats.  The 
church  was  beautifully  decorated ;  various  emblematical 
banners  were  hung  on  the  pillars,  whilst  the  sanctuary 
itself  was  a  bower  of  beauty.  The  altar  was  profusely 
decorated  with  flowers  of  various  kinds,  evergreens,  etc. 
A  large  invoice  of  magnificent  magnolias  was  received 
by  one  of  the  professors  of  the  institution,  and  these, 
together  with  numbers  of  calla-lilies,  and  various  other 
Avhite  flowers,  contrasted  exquisitely  with  the  draperies 
and  other  ornaments,  whilst  a  fragrant  perfume  perme- 
ated the  entire  church. 


THE    MASS. 

The  Right  Rev.  P.  J.  Ryan  officiated  as  celebrant, 
with  the  Rev.  Charles  Ziegler,  of  St.  Malachi's,  as 
deacon,  Rev.  Michael  McLoughlin,  of  the  Holy  Angels, 
as  sub-deacon,  and  Rev.  H.  A.  Schapman,  master 
of  ceremonies.  In  the  sanctuary  were  some  fifty  or  a 
hundred  of  the  various  priests  about  the  house,  and  the 
secular  clergy  of  the  different  churches  in  the  city. 

Priests  Present  at  Mass.  —  Right  Rev.  P.  J.  Ryan, 
Right  Rev.  J.  L.  Spalding,  Very  Rev.  E.  A.  Higgins, 
S.  J. ;  Rev.  Joseph  E.  Keller,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  Arnold  Damen 
S.  J. ;  Rev.  Hugh  L.  Magevney,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  P.  J.  Leysen, 
S.  J.;  Rev.  L.  Bushart,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  W.  H.  Hill,  S.  J, 
Rev.  C.  Coppens,  S.  J.;  Rev.  P.  Ward,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  H. 
Calmer,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  H.  Schapman,  S.  J. ;  Rev.J.  G.  Hu- 
chet  Kernion,  S.  J.;  Rev.  F.  Weinman,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  F. 
Boudreaux,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  I.  Boudreaux,  S.  J.  ;  Rev. 
John  Verdin,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  Joseph  G.  Zealand,  S.  J. ; 


ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

Rev.  Maurice  M.  Oakley,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  J.  G.  Venneman, 
S.  J. ;  Rev.  John  I.  Coghlan,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  D.  Nieder- 
korn,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  D.  Swagers,  Rev.  John  Th.  Kuhlman, 
S.  J. ;  Rev.  J.  F.  Roes,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  A.  Averbeck,  S.  J. ; 
Rev.  A.  M.  Hayden,  S.  J.,  Florissant;  Rev.  U.  Grassi, 
S.  J. ;  Rev.  T.  B.  Chambers,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  John  A.  Bau- 
haus,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  J.  J.  O'Meara,  Rev.  Jos.  Rimmele,  S.  J. ; 
Rev.  A.  Mathauscheck,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  Michael  Haering,  S.  J.; 
Rev.  Fred.  Hageman,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  F.  X.  Wippern,  S.  J. ; 
Rev.  Joseph  Weber,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  Franc.  Braun,  S.  J. ; 
Rev.  Lambert  Etten,  S.  J. ;  Rev.  J.  W.  Koop,  C.  M.; 
Rev.  P.  Brady,  Rev.  Martin  Brennan,  Rev.  A.  Eustace^ 
Rev.  G.  D.  Power,  Rev.  James  McCaffrey,  Rev.  James 
Henry,  Rev.  D.  S.  Phelan,  Rev.  J.  McGill,  C.  M.;  Rev. 
O.  McDonald,  Rev.  A.  Butler,  Rev.  T.  O'Hanlon,  Rev. 
C.  Eckles,  C.  M. ;  Rev.  S.  Higgins,  C.  M. ;  Rev.  P.  F. 
O'Reilly,  Rev.  T.  Daly,  Rev.  E.  Hammill,  Rev.  P.  W. 
Tallon,  Rev.  P.  McEvoy,  Rev.  E.  Fenlon,  Rev.  J.  J. 
Harty,  Rev.  James  Flanigan,  Rev.  M.  McFaul,  Rev.  G. 
Watson,  Rev.  P.  Gleason,  Rev.  Wm.  Jones,  Rev.  M.  Glea- 
son,  Rev.  Jas.  O'Meara,  Cincinnati;  Rev.  Fr.  Kielty,  Rev. 
W.  T.  Stack,  Rev.  L.  Porta,  St.  Joseph,  Missouri ;  Rev. 
C.  Ziegler,  Rev.  M.  McLoughlin,  Rev.  F.  X.  Kuppens. 
The  Mass  was  particularly  grand  and  solemn,  and  the 
large  audience  were  as  devout  as  the  occasion  could  pos- 
sibly call  for.  The  sermon  was  delivered  by  Rt.  Rev.  J.  L. 
Spalding,  of  Peoria,  111.,  and  though  read  by  his  rever- 
ence, was  a  model  of  intellectual  and  classical  literature. 


BISHOP    SPALDING  S    SERMON. 

MY  BRETHREN:  —  I    am    not    expected    to    tell   the 
story  of  what  St.  Louis  University  has  done  during  the 


GOLDEN   JUBILEE. 

fifty  years  which,  now  complete,  bid  us  pause,  as  travel- 
lers who  ascend  high  mountains  find  resting-places,  from 
whence  they  gain  a  fuller  and  more  comprehensive  view 
of  the  country  through  which  they  have  passed.  This 
story  of  struggle  and  trial,  of  defeat  and  victory,  will  be 
told  by  others,  who  themselves  have  borne  a  part  in 
these  high  endeavors,  and  who  will  know  how  to  give 
to  their  words  a  coloring  which  can  be  caught  by 
those  alone  who  have  looked  upon  what  they  por- 
tray. Nor  have  I  been  invited  to  address  you,  that  I 
might  pronounce  a  panegyric  upon  the  society  founded 
by  the  great  and  heroic  soul  of  Ignatius  Loyola.  Its 
deeds  are  a  part  of  the  history  of  Christendom.  Its 
spirit  has  been  so  strong  and  so  exceptional  that  indif- 
ference is  impossible,  and  it  seems  questionable  whether 
those  who  have  loved  or  those  who  have  hated  the 
Jesuits  have  done  them  most  honor.  To  others  I 
leave  this  great  theme,  and  content  myself  with  calling 
your  attention  to  the  idea  upon  which  the  work  of  St. 
Ignatius  rests.  When  we  first  get  sight  of  this  Spanish 
soldier,  all  Europe  seemed  upon  the  point  of  falling  into 
religious  and  political  chaos.  Protestantism  had  burst 
like  a  storm-cloud  upon  the  North,  and,  in  the  confusion 
and  the  panic,  it  appeared  that  when  its  fury  should  be 
spent,  nothing  great  or  venerable  would  remain  in 
Christendom.  Wild  and  passionate  controversy  fanned 
the  flames  of  war,  and  civil  discord  and  national  hatred 
and  religious  rage  drove  men  to  madness.  The  sword 
was  to  arbitrate,  and  when  a  pause  was  made  for  argu- 
ment, men  spoke  from  angry  hearts,  and  in  the  shadow  of 
the  array  of  frowning  armies.  Ignatius,  with  the  soul  of  a 
crusader  and  a  heart  that  burned  like  the  sun  of  Spain, 
looked  upon  this  scene,  then  quietly  laid  down  his  sword, 


l8O  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

and  at  the  age  of  forty  took  up  his  Latin  grammar.  He 
saw  that  the  contest  was  not  to  be  decided  on  the  blood- 
stained field ;  that  the  weapons  of  this  warfare  were 
spiritual,  and  that  they  should  win  who,  through  God's 
mercy,  were  able  to  lead  the  highest  moral  and  intellect- 
ual life.  In  obedience  to  this  inspiration  from  heaven 
and  of  genius,  he  founded  an  order  whose  members,  not 
less  brave  than  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  should  superadd 
to  the  courage  of  heroes  the  virtue  of  saints  and  the 
wisdom  of  doctors.  The  urgency  was  great,  and  expe- 
dients were  out  of  keeping  with  the  times.  Men,  rather 
than  measures,  were  needed;  and  hence  he  set  himself 
to  fashion  men.  The  Jesuit  was  to  be  equipped  for  every 
mode  of  spiritual  warfare.  He  recognized  that  opinion 
rules  the  world,  and  it  was  his  business  to  know  and  to 
use  all  the  lawful  methods  by  which  opinion  is  formed. 
It  was  not  enough  for  him  to  be  a  theologian ;  he  was 
required  also  to  be  versed  in  literature  and  the  sciences. 
To  the  austerity  of  the  monk  he  was  to  add  the  ease  and 
self-pos-session  of  a  gentleman.  It  was  little  that  in  the 
company  of  his  brethren,  and  in  the  seclusion  of  the 
cloister,  he  was  able  to  lead  a  life  of  prayer  and  self- 
denial.  This  he  must  do  also  in  the  courts  of  kings, 
amid  the  gay  throngs  of  the  worldly,  in  the  hut  of  the 
savage,  and  in  the  corrupting  atmosphere  of  the  effete 
semi-civilizations  of  Eastern  Asia.  He  was  to  be  the 
guide  of  those  pure  and  heaven-seeking  souls  who  seem 
to  be  born  into  the  world  only  to  scorn  it,  and  to  return 
unsullied  to  God.  He  was  to  preach  penitence  to  the 
fallen,  and  (yet  more  difficult  task)  to  seek  to  bring  into 
the  narrow  way  the  thoughtless  throng  of  lower  natures 
who  tread  the  primrose  path  of  dalliance.  Nothing  by 
which  mankind  may  be  enlightened,  purified,  strength- 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  l8l 

ened,  guided  to  the  end  of  their  creation, —  God's  greater 
glory,  —  was  foreign  to  his  purpose,  and  hence  there  is 
nothing  worthy  or  exalted  which  is  without  a  represent- 
ative among  the  followers  of  St.  Ignatius.  He  himself 
wrote  the  "  Spiritual  Exercises  "  from  which  come  our 
retreats,  missions,  and  other  methods  by  which  a  higher 
soul-life  is  developed.  Francis  Xavier  treated  copiously 
of  the  missions ;  and,  after  the  apostles  themselves,  he, 
both  by  example  and  precept,  is  the  worthiest  guide  in 
the  great  work  of  preaching  the  word  to  those  who  sit 
in  the  shadow  of  death. 

Canisius,  who  saved  Bavaria  to  the  Church,  composed 
a  sum  of  Christian  doctrine,  which  is  still  regarded  as  a 
model  of  catechetical  instruction  ;  and  Bellarmine,  in  his 
Disputationes  de  Controversiis  fidei  Christiana^  made,  so 
far  as  argument  can  go,  an  answer  to  Protestantism 
which  is  conclusive  and  final.  He  was  followed  in 
England  by  Parsons  and  Campian,  by  Coton  in  France, 
by  Tanner  and  Yung  in  Germany,  by  Pazmany  in 
Hungary,  by  Lessius  in  the  Netherlands,  and  by  Pen- 
nalosa  in  Spain.  Eve.y  branch  of  theology  was  culti- 
vated by  the  Jesuits.  They  developed  and  encouraged 
philosophical  speculation.  Tolet  wrote  an  introduction 
to  logic,  and  Aquaviva  distinguished  himself  as  a  prac- 
tical psychologist.  Mariana,  Mattei,  Strada,  and 
Daniel  busied  themselves  with  historical  research. 

Clavius,  under  the  patronage  of  Gregory  XIII.,  to 
whom  we  owe  the  reformation  of  the  calendar,  trans- 
lated and  explained  Euclid;  Secchi  improved  the 
telescope;  Kircher  invented  stenography;  Gusmao 
built  the  first  balloon,  and  mounted  into  the  heavens  in 
the  presence  of  John  V.,  of  Brazil ;  Terzi  constructed  a 
sewing-machine,  and  invented  a  method  of  instructing 


182  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

the  deaf  and  dumb ;  Courtois,  Valeriancx  and  Castig- 
lione  were  painters ;  Marotta  was  a  musical  composer, 
and  Fiammieri  a  sculptor;  Masse,  Menestrier,  and  Mat- 
lange  were  architects ;  Marquette  discovered  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  Charlevoix  composed  the  history  of  New 
France  and  of  Japan.  More  than  three  hundred  Jesuits 
wrote  class-books,  in  ninety-five  languages.  They 
spoke  all  the  tongues  of  men,  cultivated  all  the  scien- 
ces, loved  the  arts.  They  were  welcomed  to  the 
palaces  of  kings,  had  the  confidence  of  princes,  brought 
learning  to  barbarians,  and  tamed  savages.  The  Jesuit, 
whose  preaching  was  received  with  acclaim  by  the  most 
cultivated  audiences  of  the  world,  or  whose  philosophi- 
cal expositions  were  leading  captive  the  brightest  and 
keenest  intellects  of  Europe,  was  ready  at  a  moment's 
warning  to  start  for  China  or  Japan,  for  Canada  or  the 
plains  of  the  Illinois.  It  is  not  surprising  that  among 
Protestants,  philosophic  and  observant  minds,  such  as 
Bacon  and  Grotius,  should  have  been  filled  with  admira- 
tion in  contemplating  these  early  disciples  of  St. 
Ignatius;  and  we  are  prepared  to  find  that  the  most 
brilliant  English  writer  of  this  century  should  have 
drawn  from  the  study  of  their  lives  one  of  his  most 
eloquent  pages.  "  When  the  Jesuits  came  to  the  rescue 
of  the  papacy,"  says  Macaulay,  in  his  '  History  of  Eng- 
land,' " they  found  it  in  extreme  peril;  but  from  that 
moment  the  tide  of  battle  turned.  Protestantism,  which 
had  during  a  whole  generation  carried  all  before  it, 
was  stopped  in  its  progress,  and  rapidly  beaten  back 
from  the  foot  of  the  Alps  to  the  shores  of  the  Baltic. 
Before  the  order  had  existed  a  hundred  years,  it  had 
filled  the  whole  world  with  the  memorials  of  great 
things  done  and  suffered  for  the  faith.  No  religious 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  183 

community  could  produce  a  list  of  men  so  variously 
distinguished ;  none  had  extended  its  operations  over 
so  vast  a  space,  yet  in  none  had  there  ever  been  such 
perfect  unity  of  feeling  and  action.  There  was  no  region 
of  the  globe,  no  walk  of  speculative  or  of  active  life,  in 
which  Jesuits  were  not  to  be  found.  They  guided  the 
counsels  of  kings.  They  deciphered  Latin  inscriptions. 
They  observed  the  motions  of  Jupiter's  satellites. 
They  published  whole  libraries, —  controversy,  casuistry, 
history,  treatises  on  optics,  Alcaic  odes,  editions  of  the 
fathers,  madrigals,  catechisms,  and  lampoons.  The 
liberal  education  of  youth  passed  almost  entirely  into 
their  hands,  and  was  conducted  by  them  with  conspicu- 
ous ability.  They  appear  to  have  discovered  the  pre- 
cise point  to  which  intellectual  culture  can  be  carried 
without  risk  of  intellectual  emancipation.  Enmity  itself 
was  compelled  to  own  that,  in  the  art  of  managing  and 
forming  the  tender  mind,  they  had  no  equals.  Mean- 
while, they  assiduously  and  successfully  cultivated  the 
eloquence  of  the  pulpit.  With  still  greater  assiduity, 
and  with  still  greater  success,  they  applied  themselves 
to  the  ministry  of  the  confessional.  Throughout  Cath- 
olic Europe  the  secrets  of  every  government,  and  of 
almost  every  family  of  note,  were  in  their  keeping. 
They  glided  from  one  Protestant  country  to  another 
under  innumerable  disguises,  —  as  gay  cavaliers,  as 
simple  rustics,  as  Puritan  preachers.  They  wandered 
to  countries  which  neither  mercantile  avidity  nor  liberal 
curiosity  had  ever  impelled  any  stranger  to  explore. 
They  were  to  be  found  in  the  garb  of  mandarins,  super- 
intending the  observatory  of  Pekin.  They  were  to  be 
found,  spade  in  hand,  teaching  the  rudiments  of  agri- 
culture to  the  savages  of  Paraguay. 


1 84  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

"Yet  whatever  might  be  their  residence,  whatever 
might  be  their  employment,  their  spirit  was  the  same,  — 
entire  devotion  to  the  common  cause,  implicit  obedi- 
ence to  the  central  authority.  None  of  them  had  chosen 
his  dwelling-place  or  his  avocation  for  himself.  Whether 
the  Jesuit  should  live  under  the  Arctic  circle  or  under 
the  equator;  whether  he  should  pass  his  life  in  arrang- 
ing gems  and  collating  manuscripts  at  the  Vatican,  or  in 
persuading  naked  barbarians  in  the  Southern  hemis- 
phere not  to  eat  each  other,  were  matters  which  he  left 
with  profound  submission  to  the  decision  of  others.  If 
he  was  wanted  at  Lima,  he  was  on  the  Atlantic  with 
the  next  fleet.  If  he  was  wanted  at  Bagdad,  he  was 
toiling  through  the  desert  with  the  next  caravan.  If 
his  ministry  was  needed  in  some  country  where  his 
life  was  more  insecure  than  that  of  a  wolf,  where  it 
was  a  crime  to  harbor  him,  where  the  heads  and  quar- 
ters of  his  brethren,  fixed  in  the  public  places,  showed 
him  what  he  had  to  expect,  he  went,  without  re- 
monstrance or  hesitation,  to  his  doom. 

"  Nor  is  this  heroic  spirit  yet  extinct.  When,  in  our 
own  time,  a  new  and  terrible  pestilence  passed  round 
the  globe  ;  when,  in  some  great  cities,  fear  had  dis- 
solved all  the  ties  which  hold  society  together ;  when 
the  secular  clergy  had  deserted  their  flocks ;  when  med- 
ical succor  was  not  to  be  purchased  by  gold ;  when  the 
strongest  natural  affections  had  yielded  to  the  love  of 
life;  even  then  the  Jesuit  was  found  by  the  pallet 
which  bishop  and  curate,  physician  and  nurse,  father 
and  mother  had  deserted,  bending  over  infected  lips  to 
catch  the  faint  accents  of  confession,  and  holding  up  to 
the  last,  before  the  expiring  penitent,  the  image  of  the 
expiring  Redeemer." 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  185 

In  these  glowing  words  of  eulogy  we  allow  the  rhet- 
orician full  sway,  without  stopping  to  weigh  too  nicely 
each  epithet  or  phrase  ;  and  when  he  seeks,  further  on, 
to  tone  down  the  picture,  lest  it  should  prove  too  highly 
colored  to  suit  the  simple  taste  of  his  Protestant  readers, 
we  are  not  offended,  for  we  recognize  the  exigency  of 
that  English  Protestant  tradition  which  has  given  to  the 
word  Jesuit  a  meaning  as  odious  as  that  which  the  tra- 
dition of  pagan  Rome  affixed  to  the  title  of  Christian. 

But,  as  I  have  said,  it  is  not  my  aim  to  make  a  eulogy 
or  defence  of  the  society,  and  I  fear  that  I  have  already 
gone  somewhat  beyond  the  purpose  of  this  discourse, 
which  is  to  enter  into  a  brief  consideration  of  what  I 
conceive  to  have  been  the  guiding  thought  of  St. 
Ignatius  in  founding  his  order.  He  felt  that,  as  religion 
is  the  highest,  it  can  be  successfully  defended  and  up- 
held only  by  what  is  best  and  most  exalted  in  man, — 
his  intellect  and  his  conscience. 

The  faith  of  Christ  indeed  made  its  way  in  the  world, 
without  the  aid  of  philosophers,  through  the  foolishness 
of  preaching.  But,  this  was  under  a  special  dispensa- 
tion. It  was  miraculous,  and  accompanied  by  extraor- 
dinary manifestations  of  God's  power.  Conscience,  in 
those  early  Christians,  was  so  supreme  and  absolute 
that  it  seemed  to  be  self-sufficient;  and  in  all  times  the 
certainty  created  by  faith,  in  those  who  truly  lead  the 
supernatural  life,  is  of  a  kind  which  cannot  be  shaken  or 
weakened  by  arguments  drawn  from  the  intellect. 
Nevertheless,  as  harmony  between  faith  and  reason  is  a 
principle  which  cannot  be  called  in  doubt  by  those  who 
believe,  it  follows  that  whenever  the  progress  of 
knowledge  threatens  to  disturb  th-is  accord,  the  highest 
and  most  urgent  duty  of  the  religious  is  to  show,  by  a 


I  86  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY 

wider  and  deeper  view  of  the  whole  subject,  how  seem- 
ing contradictions  are,  when  the  matter  is  rightly 
understood,  but  parts  of  a  universal  and  concordant 
plan.  A  Catholic  religion  must  necessarily  embrace  all 
the  conflicting  elements  of  man's  nature.  His  largest 
hope  should  receive  nutriment  from  his  fullest  knowl- 
edge. Science  should  not  weaken  faith,  and  the  most 
perfect  view  of  the  laws  of  his  physical  life  should  not 
lead  him  to  doubt  the  soul. 

The  reality  of  the  world  of  sense  should  make  us 
believe  all  the  more  in  the  reality  of  the  world  of 
thought  and  love.  When  we  perceive  the  perseverance 
of  order  through  limitless  space  and  time,  we  should 
understand  that  it  is  also  in  God.  Before  Christ,  relig- 
ion and  learning  came  from  separate  sources  ;  but  the 
modern  world  receives  both  from  one  fountain-head. 
"  The  grace  stored  in  Jerusalem,"  says  Cardinal  New- 
man, "  and  the  gifts  which  radiate  from  Athens,  are 
made  over  and  concentrated  in  Rome.  This  is  true  as 
a  matter  of  history.  Rome  has  inherited  both  sacred 
and  profane  learning;  she  has  perpetuated  and  dis- 
pensed the  traditions  of  Moses  and  David  in  the  super- 
natural order,  and  of  Homer  and  Aristotle  in  the 
natural.  To  separate  these  distinct  teachings,  human 
and  divine,  which  meet  in  Rome,  is  to  retrograde ;  it  is 
to  rebuild  the  Jewish  temple  and  to  plant  anew  the  groves 
of  Academus."  The  men  who  bore  the  faith  of  Christ 
to  the  barbarians  also  taught  them  letters ;  the  hands 
which  snatched  the  classics  from  amidst  the  universal 
ruin  in  which  the  Roman  Empire  fell  to  pieces,  were 
the  same  that,  later  on,  built  schools  and  founded  uni- 
versities. And  so  the  Christian  view  of  God  and  nature, 
and  of  the  relations  of  man  to  each,  came  to  be  the 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  l8/ 

view  of  the  civilized  nations.  And  on  this  view  their 
languages,  literatures,  social  and  political  laws  and 
customs  were  modelled.  Their  religion  and  their  cult- 
ure were  derived  from  the  same  source,  and  bore  the 
same  impress.  Their  religion  was  Christian.  Their 
civilization  was  Christian.  Hence  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
with  ignorance  and  many  evils,  there  was  a  freshness, 
a  vigor,  and  a  hopefulness  for  which  we  look  in  vain 
amid  the  populations  to  which  liberty  and  progress 
have  brought  their  blessings.  God  was  in  His  heaven, 
and  it  was  all  right  with  the  world.  The  Christian  view 
was  so  much  a  part  of  all  thought  and  life  that  no 
philosophy  or  heresy  which  failed  to  assume  this  as 
unquestionable  was  able  to  make  headway.  Protest- 
antism was  Christian ;  it  professed  to  be  more  Christian 
than  the  Church;  and  in  the  controversies  to  which  it 
gave  rise,  the  disputants  assumed  as  undeniable  the 
great  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity.  The  task  of 
the  controversialist  was  comparatively  an  easy  one,  and 
it  was  to  this  task  that  the  great  Jesuit  theologians 
addressed  themselves  with  such  signal  success.  It  was, 
indeed,  not  difficult  to  prove  that  the  rejection  of  the 
principle  of  authority  implied  the  denial  of  religious 
dogma,  and  consequently  of  religious  truth ;  that  pri- 
vate interpretation  meant  the  destruction  of  creeds  and 
churches ;  that  those  who  had  broken  loose  from  his- 
torical Christianity  would  be  fatally  driven  to  deny 
Christ's  godhead  and  the  supernaturalness  of  His 
religion,  and  would  finally  drift  away  into  the  shoreless 
sea  of  hopeless  doubt. 

That  this  conclusion  was  in  the  premise  was  abund- 
antly shown  by  the  Catholic  controversialists  from  the 
beginning ;  but  faith  is  so  instinctive  and  so  necessary  to 


1 88  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

the  soul  that  centuries  must  often  pass  by  before  the 
inexorable  laws  of  logic  are  permitted  to  have  their 
way.  However  slow  the  process,  the  mind  will  as 
surely  come  to  accept  the  necessary  deductions  from 
its  first  principles  as  the  little  stream  which  bubbles  out 
from  the  mountain  side  will  infallibly  murmur  on  until 
it  sinks  to  rest  on  the  bosom  of  its  mother  ocean. 
Within  the  last  century  this  logical  development,  with 
its  attendant  dissolution  of  religious  creeds,  has  been 
most  rapid.  To  the  indifference  of  the  eighteenth 
century  a  destructive  criticism  has  succeeded,  which  is 
no  longer  confined  to  the  closets  of  the  learned,  but 
which  speaks  through  all  the  channels  that  influence 
public  opinion.  Its  scope  is  as  radical  as  its  power  is 
widespread.  It  respects  nothing  ;  is  wholly  without  rev- 
erence, or  awe,  or  fear.  As  to  whether  any  thing  worth 
living  for  shall  remain  when  its  work  is  done,  is  an 
impertinent  consideration.  The  critic  views  God  with 
as  much  careless  indifference  as  the  microscopist  exam- 
ines the  infusoria.  In  his  eyes  the  highest,  as  the  low- 
est, is  but  a  problem,  the  true  solution  of  which  must 
be  forever  withheld  from  man.  All  knowledge  is  dis- 
credited. I  can  see  that  an  object  is  white,  or  large,  or 
round ;  I  can  feel  that  it  is  heavy,  or  smooth ;  and  science, 
even  in  the  profoundest  philosopher,  cannot  possibly 
get  beyond  this  sense-perception,  which  deals  with 
mere  relations,  and  leaves  the  truth  of  things  untouched. 
This  I  find  to  be  the  underlying  thought  of  all  the 
schools  of  science  and  criticism.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  remark  that  this  theory  of  knowledge  is  based  upon 
an  assumption  which  implies  the  denial  of  truth,  and  of 
religion  as  true. 

The  popular  phrase  in  this  country,  —  and,  indeed,  in 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  189 

all  Protestant  countries,  —  that  one  creed  is  as  good  as 
another,  is  but  a  particular  application  of  the  general 
principle  of  which  I  am  speaking.  If  all  knowledge  is 
relative,  and  if  nothing  but  phenomena  can  be  known, 
it  is  manifestly  absurd  to  speak  of  any  religion  as 
absolutely  true,  or  even  as  true  at  all.  Religion,  in  this 
view,  is  at  best  but  a  sentiment.  It  is  not  a  great,  world- 
wide fact ;  it  is  a  personal  peculiarity ;  it  is  like  a  taste 
for  music  or  poetry.  He  that  has  it  delights  in  it,  and 
is  ennobled  and  refined  thereby;  but  he  who  has  it  not 
is  blameless,  and  may  easily  find  compensation  in  the 
enjoyment  of  other  talents.  The  philosophers  who 
deny  the  reality  of  knowledge,  and  who  are  therefore 
rightly  called  agnostics,  represent  a  tendency  in  the 
modern  world  which  derives  much  of  its  force  from  the 
prevalence  of  the  experimental  method  in  science. 
The  wonderful  results  which  have  followed  the  employ- 
ment of  this  method  have  dazzled  the  imaginations  of 
men,  and  have  led  them  to  indulge  chimerical  hopes  of 
what  it  may  yet  accomplish.  Hence  they  seek  to  apply 
it  universally,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  methods ; 
and,  as  a  natural  consequence,  the  tendency  of  modern 
thought  is  to  doubt  whatever  cannot  be  verified  by 
experiment.  If  prayer  has  any  value,  it  is  deemed 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  its  worth  may  be  tested  by 
clinical  observations.  This  temper  of  mind,  it  need 
hardly  be  said,  is  wholly  at  variance  with  the  mood 
required  by  religious  faith ;  and  its  prevalence  is  a  suffi- 
cient indication  of  the  decay  of  belief.  It  assumes  that 
there  is  nothing  outside  of  nature;  and  hence  the  em- 
pirical school  regards  metaphysics  as  a  shadow-science, 
and  psychology  as  merely  a  branch  of  physiology. 
Questions  of  God  and  the  soul  must  be  tested  by  the 


IpO  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

positive  method,  precisely  in  the  same  way  as  the  prob- 
lems of  the  material  and  industrial  world  ;  for  nothing  is 
certain  which  cannot  be  verified  by  actual  experiment. 
Any  attempt  to  arrive  at  the  knowledge  of  first  prin- 
ciples is  absurd,  and  the  question  of  final  causes  is  a 
remnant  of  superstition.  Voltaire  poured  upon  the 
Church  and  her  creed  his  boundless  scorn,  but  he  pro- 
fessed faith  in  God,  and  defended  deism  as  the  religion 
of  the  enlightened ;  and  even  yet,  among  the  advanced 
sects  of  Protestantism,  the  acceptance  of  Christianity, 
"purified  from  superstition,"  or  of  religion  without 
dogma,  other  than  God's  existence,  is  thought  to  be  a 
mark  of  culture  and  wisdom.  But  modern  thought  not 
only  declares  God  to  be  unknowable,  but  further  affirms 
that  the  received  idea  of  God  is  the  offspring  of  man's 
brain  while  yet  in  a  rude  and  uncultivated  state,  is 
anthropomorphic,  and  self-contradictory.  Man  imag- 
ines he  thinks  God,  when  he  but  thinks  himself  in  a 
magnified  and  impossible  condition.  Opinions  of  this 
kind  float  in  the  air.  They  are  taken  for  granted  in 
innumerable  scientific  treatises;  they  are  defended  in 
reviews  and  magazines;  they  are  spread  before  the  eyes 
of  the  countless  readers  of  the  daily  press.  They  find 
fuller  and  more  philosophic  expression  in  Europe,  but 
they  are  probably  as  widely  received  in  this  country. 
There  is  a  virtual  as  well  as  an  explicit  atheism ;  and 
those  who  ignore  God  are  often  willing  to  admit  that 
He  exists.  A  passage  in  Cardinal  Newman's  recent 
address  refers  to  this  subject.  "  Hitherto,"  he  says, 
"  the  civil  power  has  been  Christian.  Even  in  countries 
separated  from  the  Church,  as  in  my  own,  the  dictum 
was  in  force,  when  I  was  young,  that  Christianity  was 
the  law  of  the  land.  Now,  everywhere,  that  goodly 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  IQI 

framework  of  society  which  is  the  creation  of  Chris- 
tianity is  throwing  off  Christianity.  The  dictum  to 
which  I  have  referred,  with  a  hundred  others  which 
followed  upon  it,  is  gone,  or  is  going  everywhere,  and 
by  the  end  of  the  century,  unless  the  Almighty  inter- 
feres, it  will  be  forgotten.  Hitherto  it  has  been  consid- 
ered that  religion  alone,  with  its  supernatural  sanctions, 
was  strong  enough  to  secure  the  submission  of  the 
mass  of  the  population  to  law  and  order.  Now  philoso- 
phers and  politicians  are  bent  on  satisfying  this  problem 
without  the  aid  of  Christianity.'  Whithersoever  we 
turn,  we  perceive  the  approaches  of  this  great  apostacy 
from  God.  It  conforms  to  various  phases  of  thought 
and  life  in  different  countries,  but  is  everywhere  the 
same.  When  it  does  not  deny  God,  it  seeks  to  do  with- 
out Him.  When  it  does  not  openly  reject  all  religion, 
it  declares  that  it  is  no  longer  necessary,  —  that  it  has 
ceased  even  to  be  useful.  This  is  the  attitude  of  the 
learned;  and  the  masses,  despairing  of  truth,  have  come 
to  think  that  the  one  thing  needful  is  to  be  as  little 
wretched  as  possible;  that  religion,  morality,  justice, 
human  dignity,  are  but  fine  words  by  which  the  people 
have  been  held  to  the  service  of  their  masters.  If  noth- 
ing can  be  known  to  be  true  or  sacred,  self-interest 
must  be  the  absolute  law  of  life,  and  only  those  who 
have  something  to  lose  will  be  willing  to  accept  the 
established  order  of  things.  The  limits  of  this  discourse 
do  not  permit  me  to  pursue  the  line  of  thought  upon 
which  I  have  entered.  My  aim  in  saying  so  much  has 
been  merely  to  bring  before  your  minds  the  fact  that 
the  defenders  of  Christianity  have  now  to  address  them- 
selves to  a  work  which  is  infinitely  different  from  that 
performed  by  the  early  Jesuits.  A  new  heresy  is  now 


!92  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

impossible.  Those  who  abandon  the  Church  are  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  indifference  and  unbelief  of  the 
age. 

Lammenais,  Doellinger,  and  Loyson  sink  into  their 
graves  and  leave  no  disciples.  The  intellectual  con- 
test between  the  Church  and  Protestantism  is  ended. 
All  impartial  minds  now  see  that  if  Christianity  is  a 
supernatural  fact,  Catholics  are  right.  If  it  is  not  a 
supernatural  fact,  Protestants  are  wrong.  Whichever 
view  we  take,  —  and  we  must  take  the  one  or  the  other, — 
the  existence  of  the  sects  is  without  warrant.  In  point 
of  fact,  Protestantism  is  dissolving  visibly  before  the 
eyes  of  all  who  take  the  trouble  to  look.  Its  aggressive 
force  was  spent  within  fifty  years  from  its  first  appear- 
ance. It  made  no  step  in  advance  from  the  time  it 
encountered  the  Catholic  forces  under  the  banner  of 
St.  Ignatius.  "  The  chances,"  says  Macaulay,  "  seemed 
to  be  decidedly  in  favor  of  Protestantism,  but  the  vic- 
tory remained  with  the  Church  of  Rome.  On  every 
point  she  was  successful.  If  we  overleap  another 
half  century,  we  find  her  victorious  and  dominant  in 
France,  Belgium,  Bavaria,  Bohemia,  Austria,  Poland, 
and  Hungary.  Nor  has  Protestantism,  in  the  course  of 
two  hundred  years,  been  able  to  reconquer  any  portion 
of  what  it  then  lost."  And  again :  "  It  is  surely  re- 
markable that  neither  the  moral  revolution  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  nor  the  moral  counter-revolution  of 
the  nineteenth,  should  in  any  perceptible  degree  have 
added  to  the  domain  of  Protestantism."  The  Church, 
on  the  other  hand,  has  continued  to  advance,  and  her 
progress  in  this  century  is  most  noteworthy,  precisely 
in  those  countries  in  which  Protestantism  had  seemed 
to  win  its  most  complete  victories.  Having  lost  its 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  193 

aggressive  force,  Protestantism  was  thrown  back  upon 
itself.  The  destructive  and  critical  spirit  which  is  in- 
separable from  its  fundamental  principle  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  individual  reason  was,  however,  for  a 
long  time  partially  held  in  check  by  the  action  of  the 
State,  which  gave  the  sanction  of  the  law  to  this  or 
that  sect,  and  so  interfered  with  free  inquiry.  But  these 
old  bonds  have  been  loosened  and  broken  by  the  wear 
and  tear  of  the  time-spirit,  and  Protestantism,  left  to 
itself,  has  fallen  to  pieces.  The  conflicting  and  contra- 
dictory doctrines  of  the  numberless  sects  have  brought 
all  dogmatic  teaching  into  disrepute,  while  the  habit  of 
viewing  the  Bible  as  a  collection  of  texts,  by  which  any 
and  every  religious  whim  may  be  supported,  has  thrown 
discredit  upon  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

I  say  all  this  in  sadness ;  I  should  gladly  believe  that 
it  is  not  true  ;  for,  little  as  I  am  a  Protestant,  I  infinitely 
prefer  even  the  most  extravagant  Methodism  to  the  in- 
difference and  atheism  which,  like  a  creeping  paralysis, 
seem  to  threaten  this  whole  modern  world  with  despair 
and  death.  There  are,  doubtless,  many  persons  who 
may  still  be  helped  by  the  old  methods  of  controversy, 
but  it  remains  none  the  less  true  that  the  great  army  of 
thinkers  has  left  the  old  battle-fields  far  behind.  Other 
weapons  are  needed;  other  modes  of  defence — other 
modes  of  attack.  In  accepting  Christianity,  men  ac- 
cepted a  view  of  the  world  —  Weltanschauung,  as  the 
Germans  say — which  is  the  necessary  postulate  of 
Christian  teaching ;  and  which,  in  the  clearness  and 
definiteness,  at  least,  in  which  it  was  brought  out,  was 
wholly  new.  The  unity  and  absolute  sovereignty  of 
God ;  the  unity  and  brotherhood  of  the  human  race  ; 
the  paramount  worth  of  the  soul,  and  the  all-importance 


IQ4  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

of  its  salvation  ;  the  essential  evil  of  sin,  and  the  merely 
relative  worth  of  whatever  is  not  a  part  of  virtue,  —  these, 
and  other  truths  which  readily  suggest  themselves,  go  to 
form  what  may  rightly  be  called  a  world-view,  which 
takes  in  God,  man,  and  nature.  No  other  conception 
of  the  universe  is  compatible  with  the  religion  of 
Christ.  The  thought  and  life  of  the  Middle  Ages  were 
modelled  upon  this  conception  ;  no  other  was  deemed 
possible.  Hence  there  was  in  those  ages  a  unity,  a 
harmony,  and  a  greatness  which  remains  forever  ad- 
mirable. Men  were  blessed  with  certitude ;  the  tor- 
ment of  doubt  was  not  felt.  Thought  and  life  flowed 
on  in  sweet  accord.  Reason  served  faith ;  imagination 
adorned  the  temple  of  religion,  and  language  and  litera- 
ture were  redolent  of  heaven.  Plato  and  Aristotle  were 
brought  to  do  homage  to  Christ ;  and  in  the  great  Gothic 
cathedrals,  demons,  and  wiverns,  and  monsters  of  every 
shape  entered  with  angels  and  saints  into  the  structure 
of  the  Church  of  the  true  God,  to  symbolize  His  abso- 
lute sovereignty  and  the  higher  harmony  which,  in 
spite  of  appearances,  reigns  throughout  His  creation. 
The  materials  upon  which  the  Church  wrought  in  those 
ages  were  rude  and  unyielding,  and  her  high  ideal  was 
not  realized.  There  has,  at  least,  never  been  a  grander 
or  more  exalted  aim,  or  one  which  so  fully  recognized 
the  law  of  all  right  living,  and  of  all  right  thinking, 
which  is  the  tendency  to  unity.  The  unity  of  God  and 
the  unity  of  the  race  are  correlatives ;  and  the  one 
Church  and  a  united  Christendom  are  the  highest  ex- 
pression of  this  sublime  teaching.  The  advent  and  suc- 
cessful establishment  of  Protestantism  among  the 
European  nations  announced  the  end  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  the  appearance  of  the  spirit  of  negation  which 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  195 

was  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  view  of  the  world  al- 
together opposite  to  that  of  Christ  and  His  Church. 
To  trace,  step  by  step,  the  evolution  of  modern  natural- 
ism from  its  first  beginnings,  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
would  detain  me  longer  than  I  have  the  right  to  lay 
claim  to  your  attention.  The  principle  of  private  inter- 
pretation made  the  individual  reason  the  critic  of  reve- 
lation ;  and  from  this  to  the  rationalism  which  refuses 
to  admit  any  thing  above  man's  comprehension,  the  de- 
scent was  easy  and  inevitable.  And  here  already  we 
have  pure  naturalism  ;  for  the  supernatural  is  the  super- 
rational. 

All  the  attacks  which  in  our  day  are  made  upon  the 
Christian  religion  start  from  a  common  point,  and  tend 
to  a  common  end,  —  the  denial  of  the  supernatural,  and 
the  doing  away  with  whatever,  either  in  history  or 
dogma,  reposes  upon  any  other  than  a  natural  basis. 
The  popular  aversion  to  the  miraculous  rests  upon  the 
assumption  that  there  are  no  miracles ;  which,  further 
analyzed,  implies  that  there  never  have  been  any. 
Deism,  pantheism,  and  materialism  are  only  different 
methods  which  the  spirit  of  the  age  takes  to  deny  all 
trace  of  God's  action  in  the  world,  and  so  to  eliminate 
God  from  the  universal  problem.  Scientism  employs 
other  means  to  the  same  end.  It  is  the  horror  of  the 
supernatural  which  leads  it  to  the  hopeless  attempts  to 
explain  the  origin  of  matter,  of  life,  and  thought,  without 
God.  Here,  then,  we  have  a  view  of  the  world  which  is 
the  very  opposite  of  the  Christian,  and  one  which  is  not 
merely  speculative,  but  which  aims  at  universal  dominion. 
Those  who  accept  it  are  filled  with  the  zeal  of  prosely- 
tism,  and  they  preach  the  new  faith  with  as  much  earnest- 
ness as  though  the  message  which  they  bring  were  one 
of  hope,  instead  of  despair.  Their  intellectual  activity 


196  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

is  without  a  parallel,  and  the  influence  of  their  thought 
pervades  all  modern  literature.  They  write  history  and 
poetry;  they  cultivate  philosophy  and  science;  they 
make  revolution  and  control  legislation.  They  have  a 
morality  of  their  own,  which  threatens  a  radical  change 
in  all  the  hitherto  received  notions  of  right  conduct. 
The  laws  which  regulate  the  relation  of  the  sexes  and 
the  tenure  of  property  are  to  be  abolished.  The  family 
and  the  State  are  both  to  be  declared  obsolete.  These 
few  sketches  are  enough  to  call  your  attention  to  the 
general  tendency  of  the  new  faith.  Its  distinctive  charac- 
teristic is  naturalism ;  or,  if  you  prefer,  positivism.  It 
assumes  that  we  can  know  neither  God  nor  the  soul, 
and  that  it  is  irrational  to  allow  the  imaginary  interests 
of  problematical  entities  to  control  our  lives.  To  speak 
of  an  absolute  right  or  wrong  is  to  talk  nonsense.  The 
good  is  the  useful.  It  is  good  for  man  to  have  a  con- 
venient house,  comfortable  clothing,  and  wholesome 
food.  To  love  justice  and  hate  iniquity  may  also  be 
good,  if  it  tend  to  make  these  positive  benefits  more 
enjoyable.  And  since  the  existence  of  religion  must 
still  be  recognized,  that  form  is  least  evil  which  is  farthest 
removed  from  supernatural  faith  or  aims.  This  is 
the  line  of  sympathy  along  which  Protestantism  and 
unbelief  communicate.  The  traditional  boast  of  Protest- 
antism is,  not  that  it  makes  men  more  humble,  more 
chaste,  more  self-denying,  but  that  it  makes  them  richer, 
more  comfortable,  more  worldly-wise.  It  rejected 
poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience  as  elements  of  the 
Christian  ideal,  and  so  led  on  to  the  modern  precept 
which  proclaims  the  wisdom  of  making  the  most  of  life. 
The  antagonism  between  these  two  world-views,  which 
I  may  designate  as  naturalism  and  supernaturalism,  is 
absolute,  and  the  intellectual  conflict  that  thence  arises 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  197 

is  the  most  intense  and  far-reaching  which  has  ever 
engaged  the  thoughts  of  man.  The  powers  of  darkness, 
and  the  princes  of  this  world,  and  the  pride  of  intellect, 
and  the  passions  of  the  human  heart,  have  all  made  alli- 
ance for  a  supreme  assault  upon  God  and  His  Christ. 
Protestantism  is  but  a  way-station  on  the  road  from 
supernaturalism  to  naturalism.  It  is  untenable  as  a 
fortress  of  war,  and  the  strong  and  earnest  souls  in  the 
sects  must  fall  back  or  go  forward. 

As  on  the  final  day  the  countless  multitudes  of  human 
beings  who  have  lived  on  earth  shall  be  divided  into 
two  camps,  so  now  there  are  to  be  but  two  armies,  and 
the  banner  of  Christ  must  be  held  in  the  hands  of  that 
heavenly  queen,  who,  receiving  it  all  stained  with  blood 
as  she  knelt  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  on  Calvary,  bore  it 
through  the  death-struggle  with  imperial  Rome  ;  carried 
it  aloft,  as  a  beacon  of  life  and  hope,  through  the  dark- 
ness and  barbarism  of  long  centuries ;  and  who  now, 
after  two  thousand  years,  still  bears  it  on,  calling  upon 
all  who  believe  in  God,  and  the  soul,  and  the  better  life 
that  is  to  be,  to  rally  beneath  the  battle-standard  of 
God's  Son.  Never  has  there  been  an  age  in  which  the 
soldier  of  Christ  needed  a  stouter  heart,  or  a  mind  more 
thoroughly  disciplined.  I  am  well  aware  that  the  real 
men  of  science  do  not  even  profess  to  have  discovered  a 
single  argument  against  God's  or  the  soul's  existence  ; 
but  they  do  not  rely  upon  arguments.  They  trust  to 
those  habits  of  thought  and  sentiment  which  are  devel- 
oped and  strengthened  by  the  science  and  literature  of 
the  day,  and  which  lead  men  to  ignore  rather  than  to 
deny  God.  We  are  busy  discussing  the  question  of 
education,  in  a  way  which  would  imply  that  we  imagine 
that  man  is  wholly  or  chiefly  educated  in  some  school 
or  college,  when  in  point  of  fact  the  whole  world  is  his 


198  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

university.  The  family  educates,  society  educates,  litera- 
ture educates,  science  educates,  commerce  educates ;  and 
we  shall  have  labored  to  small  purpose,  in  the  best  possi- 
ble school-room,  if  those  who  leave  it  are  to  plunge  into 
an  atmosphere  in  which  the  very  breath  of  life  is  tainted. 
Man  is  God's  appointed  educator,  and  He  works  through 
class-book  and  drill,  through  poetry  and  eloquence, 
through  art  and  science,  through  all  the  countless  agen- 
cies which  He  makes  a  part  of  Himself,  to  shape  the 
world  to  His  will ;  and  as  the  light  of  heaven  throws  its 
golden  mantle  of  life  and  beauty  over  all  things,  great 
and  small,  so  should  religious  faith  illumine  all  the  ways 
of  men,  that  they  may  be  seen  to  lead  upward  to  peace 
and  God.  This,  as  I  take  it,  was  the  thought  of  St. 
Ignatius,  when  he  gathered  about  him  that  immortal 
band,  who,  setting  forth  from  Paris,  the  world's  great 
culture-city,  were  to  walk  in  all  the  ways  of  thought  and 
action,  until  it  should  be  shown  that  when  they  do  not 
lose  themselves  in  the  abyss,  they  lead  to  Rome,  the 
city  of  the  soul. 

Now,  as  in  his  day,  expedients  are  of  little  avail ;  men, 
rather  than  measures,  are  needed ;  for  only  a  great  soul 
can  teach  great  thoughts  and  give  the  courage  that 
makes  them  live. 

"  Ah  God,  for  a  man  with  heart,  head,  hand, 
Like  some  of  the  simple  great  ones  gone." 


THE     MUSIC. 


The  music  for  the  Mass  and  the  Te  Deum  was  ren- 
dered by  a  large  and  complete  choir,  under  the  direction 
of  Professor  M.  A.  Gilsinn,  in  taste  and  with  correctness, 
the  solo  artists  especially  distinguishing  themselves. 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE. 

The  singers  were :  Ladies  —  Miss  Lou  Brown,  Miss  Tillie 
Gornet,  Mrs.  Lizzie  Fassett-Bouvier,  Miss  Lulu  Fassett, 
Mrs.  E.  Garesche,  Miss  Lillie  Gavin,  Miss  Mary  Gavin, 
Mrs.  M.  A.  Gilsinn,  Mrs.  Wm.  McDonald,  Miss  Ida  F. 
Sumpf.  Gentlemen  —  Mr.  Alfred  C.  Bagshawe,  Mr. 
Robert  Buechel,  Mr.  David  F.  Colville,  Mr.  E.  D.  Con- 
cannon,  Dr.  P.  H.  Cronin,  Messrs.  Edward  Dierkes, 
Louis  J.  Dubuque,  Andrew  J.  Kelly,  Joseph  F.  Nuelle, 
Joseph  Saler,  Anthony  A.  Schnuck,  Thaddeus  Smith. 
At  the  end  of  Mass,  Bishop  Ryan  gave  the  papal 
benediction,  followed  by  benediction  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament.  Father  Schapman  read  the  rescript  to  the 
congregation. 


[III.] 

THE   ALUMNI    DINNER. 

AT  two  o'clock,  P.  M.,  the  alumni  and  a  number  of 
invited  guests  assembled  at  the  university.  It  was 
pleasing  to  see  gray-haired  citizens  from  distant  lands 
meeting  again,  after  many  long  and  eventful  years, 
amid  the  scenes  of  their  schoolboy  days.  Some  were 
lawyers,  some  were  physicians,  some  were  priests;  but 
far  the  greater  number  had  engaged  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits. The  venerable  missionary,  who  had  inspired 
respect  and  confidence  all  over  the  country,  was  tapped 
on  the  shoulder  and  greeted  by  some  former  school- 
mate, and  called  by  his  college  nickname,  in  a  manner 
so  good  and  hearty  as  to  make  a  great  impression  on 
the  spectators  younger  in  years.  Here  were  congre- 
gated a  number  of  veterans,  bearing  on  their  brows  the 
marks  of  life's  long  struggles,  and  there  were  gathered 
men  who  had  grown  rich  and  renowned  and  honored, — 
all  meeting  to  testify  their  love  for  their  alma  mater,  on 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  her  existence.  The  classes 
of  the  different  years  grouped  together  and  talked  of 
the  olden  days,  of  the  tricks  and  pranks  they  played, 
and  of  the  victories  won  or  lost  in  class.  The  only  per- 
son present  at  the  golden  jubilee  who  was  an  inmate  of 
the  university  fifty  years  ago,  or  in  1829,  was  Rev.  John 
Verdin,  a  native  of  St.  Louis,  first  enrolled  as  a  scholar 
at  the  age  of  eight  years,  on  November  10,  1829. 

At  half-past  two  o'clock  dinner  was  announced,  and 

(200) 


GOLDEN   JUBILEE.  2OI 

the  assembled  guests  entered  the  large  study-hall,  fitted 
up  for  the  occasion  as  a  banquet-room.  The  walls  and 
ceilings  had  been  repainted,  and  festoons  and  ever- 
greens and  baskets  of  flowers  were  on  all  sides.  On 
the  walls  were  hung  the  portraits  of  the  different  presi- 
dents :  Rev.  P.  J.  Verhaegen,  Rev.  J.  A.  Elet,  Rev.  J. 
Van  de  Velde,  Rev.  George  Carrell,  Rev.  J.  B.  Druyts, 
Rev.  J.  S.  Verdin,  Rev.  F.  Coosemans,  Rev.  Th.  O'Neil, 
Rev.  F.  H.  Stuntebeck,  Rev.  J.  Zealand,  Rev.  L. 
Bushart,  Rev.  J.  E.  Keller. 

On  the  right  of  Bishop  Ryan  was  Bishop  Spalding, 
of  Peoria;  and  on  his  left  was  Father  Damen,  the 
celebrated  missionary. 

The  dinner  was  prepared  under  charge  of  Mr.  Pezolt, 
and  it  was  gotten  up  in  excellent  style.  A  large  corps 
of  waiters,  as  marshalled  by  their  skilful  steward,  left  the 
wants  of  no  guest  unsupplied.  Toasts  and  sentiments, 
abounding  in  wit,  humor,  and  striking  thoughts,  were 
pronounced  ;  but  no  report  that  would  do  justice  to 
them  can  be  here  produced. 

On  account  of  the  various  colleges  in  the  province 
holding  their  commencement  exercises  about  this  time, 
many  Jesuit  fathers  who  would  have  been  present  were 
compelled  to  remain  away.  But  many  communications, 
expressive  of  good  will,  were  received  from  them,  and 
from  numerous  friends  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States, 
who  were  prevented  by  the  engagements  of  duty  from 
being  present. 

Besides  the  reverend  gentlemen  already  named  as 
present  at  Mass,  the  following  names  of  laymen  were 
learned  by  the  reporter  as  among  the  guests  at  din- 
ner:— 

Capt.  Jos.  E.  Gorman,  Col.  Geo.  Knapp,  John  F.  Mc- 
Dermott,  Geo.  H.  Loker,  Jr. ;  Jas.  A.  Walsh,  F.  J.  Don- 


2O2  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

ovan,  F.  L.  Stuever,  M.D. ;  Holdridge  Collins,  Esq. ; 
Jos.  W.  Wise,  E.  T.  Parish,  Jas.  A.  Kennedy,  Julius 
Walsh,  Judge  Bakewell,  Thos.  Reyburn,  Ralph  Humes, 
Wm.  T.  Humes,  Jno.  Bergin,  P.  H.  Cronin,  M.D. ;  E. 
D.  Concannon,  A.  J.  Kelly,  Waldemar  Malmene,  A. 
Schnuck,  L.  J.  Dubuque,  Jos.  Nuelle,  M.  A.  Gilsinn, 
Jno.  H.  Reel,  Chas.  Green,  A.  F.  McAllister,  Geo.  P. 
Miron,  L.  A.  Lebeau,  M.D.  ;  L.  R.  Bergeron,  J.  W.  Gar- 
neau,  E.  Slevin,  W.  J.  Blakely,  W.  J.  Onahan,  T.  L. 
Papin,  M.D. ;  P.  L.  Foy,  E.  F.  Smith,  M.D. ;  Chas.  F. 
Loker,  J.  S.  B.  Alleyne,  M.D.  ;  Jno.  E.  Coppinger,  P. 
S.  O'Reilly,  M.D.  ;  L.  C.  Boisliniere,  M.D. ;  John 
Finn,  Hy.  A.  Clover,  Robt.  Corcoran,  Edw.  Martin,  A. 
J.  Kennedy,  Ferd.  L.  Garesche,  Jos.  Solari,  John 
Byrne,  Jr. ;  Jno  Broderick,  C.  W.  Knapp,  P.  Fox,  H.  L. 
Patterson,  O.  W.  Collet,  T.  C.  Reynolds,  E.  H.  Gregory, 
M.D. ;  Jas.  McGrath,  H.  B.  Kelly,  Sol.  Link,  M.  F. 
Burke,  Fr.  J.  Lutz,  M.D.  ;  L.  J.  Hornsby,  L.  L.  Mc- 
Cabe,  M.D.  ;  Edm.  R.  Lynch,  M.  Mullen,  Dr.  Lankford, 
M.  F.  Lonergan,  Hy.  J.  Spaunhorst,  J.  K.  Bauduy,  M.D. ; 
A.  Jaminet,  M.D. ;  Wm.  Brennan,  M.D. ;  Judge  E.  A. 
Lewis,  Gen.  A.  J.  Smith,  Geo.  H.  Backer,  Jas.  A. 
Hardy,  Jno.  B.  O'Meara,  Nathan  A.  Cole,  Jos.  W.  Rick- 
ert,  Gen.  D.  M.  Frost,  Col.  Jno.  Knapp,  John  Denver, 
P.  W.  Provenchere,  J.  F.  Conroy,  A.  C.  Bagshawe,  Jos. 
Garneau,  Sr. ;  Jos.  Saler,  Ed.  Dierkes,  E.  Preuss,  Ph.D. ; 
Jas.  Verdin,  Theod.  J.  Emerson,  Wm.  Druhe,  Jno.  F. 
Darby,  U.  Rasin,  F.  L.  Haydel,  M.D. ;  E.  Doumeing, 
M.D. ;  J.  Mauntel,  Maj.  P.  M.  Doherty,  H.  Flanigan, 
A.  J.  P.  Garesche,  D.  G.  Jones,  F.  X.  McCabe,  P. 
Poland,  Col.  Leigh  O.  Knapp,  Amedee  V.  Reyburn, 
Gerald  L.  Griffin,  Jno.  J.  McNamara,  Jas.  E.  Hereford, 
Andrew  Duggan,  Ashley  C.  Clover. 


[IV.] 

EVENING   EXERCISES. 

THE  literary  exercises  commemorative  of  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  university  drew  a  large  attendance, 
in  the  evening,  of  the  higher  classes  of  St.  Louis  society. 
The  celebration  took  place  in  the  large  hall  of  the 
university,  next  to  the  corner  of  Ninth  Street  and  Wash- 
ington Avenue.  The  audience  was  seated  to  the  right 
and  left  of  the  large  aisle.  The  benches  immediately 
in  front  of  the  stage  were  occupied  by  the  instructors 
of  the  institution,  —  a  thoughtful,  dignified  class  of  men, 
whose  teachings  have  long  strengthened  the  educational 
interest  of  the  city.  To  their  right  and  left  sat  the 
students,  many  of  whom  are,  doubtless,  like  their  pre- 
decessors, destined  to  occupy  prominent  positions  in 
the  respect  of  the  people  and  in  the  administration  of 
public  affairs  of  the  country. 

Rev.  Father  Keller,  president  of  the  university,  and 
the  various  speakers,  occupied  seats  on  the  stage. 


PROGRAMME. 

Music  (overture),  "  Martha ;"  Flotow. 

Poem,  "The  Golden  Years;  "  by  John  C.  Burke. 

Address,  "  Classic  Culture ; "  by  J.  K.  Bauduy,  M.D. 

Music,  "  Jubilee  March;"  by  C.  J.  Richter. 

Commemorative  Lines,  "AdMajoremDciGloriam;" 
by  Walter  J.  Blakely,  on  the  part  of  St.  Mark's 
Academy. 

(203) 


204  ST-  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

Students'  Song,  "  Our  Golden  Jubilee ;  "  by  J.  W. 
Hingston,  Wm.  B.  Smith,  L.  J.  Dubuque. 

Address,  "  Christian  Education ;  "  by  Hon.  R.  A. 
Bakewell. 

Address,  "  The  Influence  of  Christianity  upon  Legis- 
lation ;  "  by  Hon.  Thos.  C.  Reynolds. 

Music,  "  Waltz  ;  "  Zikoff. 

Brief  of  his  Holiness  Leo  XIII. 

Music  (finale). 

The  programme  opened  with  an  overture  from 
Flotow,  by  the  members  of  the  Philharmonic  Society, 
which  is  made  up  of  the  students  and  the  professors  of 
the  university.  Then  followed  the  recital  of  "The 
Golden  Year,"  an  original  poem  by  John  C.  Burke,  a 
lad  of  fifteen,  and  a  student  of  the  university.  The 
composition  was  recited  with  ease  and  grace,  showing 
that  the  youth  has  paid  much  attention  to  the  culture 
of  his  vocal  powers. 


DR.  BAUDUY  S  ADDRESS. 
LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  — 

"  'Tis  education  forms  the  common  mind  ; 
Just  as  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree's  inclined." 

The  task  has  been  allotted  to  me  of  making  a  few 
remarks  upon  the  advantages  of  collegiate  culture. 
The  proposition  to  thinking  minds  is  self-evident ;  and 
the  results  accruing  therefrom,  when  viewed  with  the 
eye  of  experience,  admit  of  but  one  conclusion. 

"To  any  of  the  young  gentlemen  before  me  who 
may  be  sceptical  as  to  the  utility  and  especial  advan- 
tages of  the  years  of  persevering  study  which  they  have 
just  accomplished,  I  would  bid  them  take  a  retrospec- 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE. 

tive  glance  at  the  career  of  those  who  were  their  pre- 
decessors upon  the  benches  of  this  venerable  institution 
now  celebrating  its  golden  jubilee.  They  would  find 
many,  though  now  silent  in  the  deep  sleep  of  death, 
many  others  who  are  yet  struggling  in  life's  daily 
warfare,  who  have  reached  preeminence  in  their  respec- 
tive professions  or  avocations,  just  in  proportion  as  they 
availed  themselves  of  the  advantages  and  privileges 
incident  to  a  collegiate  training. 

Here  was  the  nursery  of  their  intellects;  here  were 
the  halls  of  learning  and  instruction  which,  from  month 
to  month,  witnessed  the  development,  culture,  and  mar- 
vellous improvement  of  minds,  Liliputian  in  their 
earlier  potentiality.  Here  first  were  planted  the  seeds 
of  intellectual  progress  which  grew  with  gigantic  strides 
under  the  daily,  persevering  training  and  patient  efforts 
of  the  good  professors  of  this  college.  This  is  no 
exaggeration ;  for  the  human  intellect,  through  mental 
gymnastics,  is  as  susceptible  of  development  as  are  the 
muscles  of  the  athlete. 

Idiocy  itself,  as  is  well  known,  may  be  deprived  of 
many  of  its  horrors  and  revolting  features  by  well-timed 
and  judiciously  directed  efforts  seeking  to  fan  into  a 
more  lively  flame  the  slumbering  sparks  of  intellec- 
tuality, which  may  not  be  entirely  extinct,  notwithstand- 
ing the  defective  congenital  mental  organization. 

"  In  nature  there  is  nothing  great  but  man ; 
In  man  there  is  nothing  great  but  mind  " 

If,  therefore,  young  gentlemen,  discouraged  and 
fatigued  at  times  with  the  perplexing  problems  of  math- 
ematics ;  the  intricacies  of  syntax  and  prosody ;  the 
mazes  of  classical  labyrinths  through  which  you  have 
been  led  whilst  essaying  to  master  and  satisfactorily 


2O6  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

interpret  Horace,  Virgil,  and  Demosthenes  ;  if,  befogged 
with  ethics,  logic,  and  metaphysics  during  hours  of 
philosophical  flights,  remember  that,  whatever  future 
utility  may  be  realized  from  a  complete  and  confident 
mastery  of  such  studies,  yet,  nevertheless,  whilst  thus 
engaged,  you  have  been  feeding  your  minds  and 
furnishing  an  intellectual  pabulum,  the  digestion  of 
which  will  enhance  the  unfolding  of  your  cerebral 
powers.  The  very  nutrition  of  your  brains  is  thus 
augmented  by  your  studies,  because,  pan  passu,  with 
the  increased  functional  activity  of  your  intellectual 
organ  I  will  its  physiological  activity,  its  powers,  its  po- 
tentiality, and  its  vigor  become  enlarged.  The  natural 
laws  which  govern  such  results  are  well  established. 
Here  your  long  years  of  patient  industry  in  collegiate 
studies  will  have  the  reward  of  ushering  you  into  the 
race  of  life  with  brains,  whose  increased  capacities  ad- 
mirably prepare  you  for  the  contentions,  vicissitudes, 
and  competitions  which  all  must  encounter  in  over- 
coming difficulties,  reaching  distinction,  and  mastering 
obstacles  apparently  insuperable.  The  sluggard  falls 
behind,  overcome  by  the  first  impediment  in  the  way  of 
success ;  but  the  man  of  trained  intellect  attains  emi- 
nence through  the  inherent  success  resulting  from  the 
tenacity  of  purpose  which  intellectual  cultivation 
affords. 

Your  studies,  therefore,  have  been,  for  the  many 
years  of  your  collegiate  life,  the  bread  and  butter  of 
your  brains. 

There  is  extant,  of  late  years,  more  or  less  prejudice 


1  The  "intellectual  organ  "  in  the  sense  that  the  bodily  organs  serve 
the  intellect  by  furnishing  the  objects  of  thought.  —  W.  H.  H. 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  2O/ 

in  many  minds  against  a  classical  course  of  study; 
many  reason,  forsooth,  that  there  is  too  much  time  lost 
in  studies  of  no  future  practical  utility.  Latin  and 
Greek,  being  dead  languages,  offer  no  scope  in  furnish- 
ing success  for  mastering  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
money-making,  which  unfortunately  constitutes  the 
ultimatum  or  sole  object  of  the  battle  of  life  during  this 
age  of  boasted  progress,  civilization,  and  intellectual  de- 
velopment. The  advocates  of  a  more  practical  system 
of  education,  however,  seem  oblivious  of  the  real  results 
obtained  from  a  more  extensive  and  elaborate  intel- 
lectual training.  To  the  professional  man,  all  concede 
the  advantages,  if  not  necessity,  of  such  culture 
which  a  thorough  familiarity  with  the  classics  affords. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the  merchant, 
the  politician,  nay,  even  the  tradesman,  and  others  fol- 
lowing the  humbler  avocations,  have  brains  which,  in 
proportion  to  their  development,  will  furnish  brilliant 
results.  Just  as  muscular  development  and  perfection 
are  attained  by  judicious  exercise,  so  by  previous  col- 
legiate study  will  the  wits  be  sharpened  for  the  daily 
demands  sprung  upon  them.  Thus  is  furnished  the 
whetstone  upon  which  they  are  rendered  more  and 
more  acute.  It  is  fair,  therefore,  to  contend  that  more 
will  be  successfully  accomplished,  even  in  the  non- 
professional  spheres  of  life,  by  those  who  have  been  for- 
tunate enough  to  have  enjoyed  the  previous  advantages 
and  privileges  of  an  intellectual  training  furnished  by  a 
collegiate  course  of  instruction.  Such  possess  a  van- 
tage-ground which  will  necessarily  give  them  a  supe- 
riority over  competitors  less  fortunate  in  their  previous 
schooling.  The  conclusion,  then,  to  be  reached  is,  that 


2O8  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

as  we  utilize  brain-power  for  future  success  in  life,  pro- 
portionate results  will  follow. 

"  Education  not  only  instructs  the  mind,  but  makes 
it  apprehensive,  nimble,  and  even  fiery." 

In  this  connection,  it  will  be  well  to  remember  that 
physical  culture  should  keep  pace  with  mental  develop- 
ment. There  is  no  truer  maxim  than  the  old  estab- 
lished "Mens  sana  in  corpore  sano." 

A  strict  correlation  exists  between  these  two  condi- 
tions; the  mind,  cultured  to  its  utmost  limit,  will  snap 
like  the  tree  in  the  storm's  angry  blast,  unless  a  corre- 
sponding healthful  influence  pervade  the  body,  which 
incloses  the  wonderful  mechanism  of  that  machinery  by 
which  thought  and  ideas  are  elaborated.  To  overstock 
the  mind,  or  to  culture  the  phenomena  of  intellectuality 
at  the  expense  of  the  physical  frame,  must  necessarily 
entail  disastrous  consequences  during  the  very  first 
vicissitudes,  which  sooner  or  later  will  be  encountered 
while  struggling  with  daily  actions  and  current  events. 

The  last,  but  not  least,  important  factor  of  educational 
development  must,  in  conclusion,  now  briefly  engage 
our  attention.  I  allude  to  what  might  familiarly  be 
termed  will-culture.  The  volitional  powers  constitute  a 
faculty  of  the  mind,  the  development  of  which  is  most 
intimately,  nay  inseparably,  associated  with  intellectual 
training.  Careers  for  better  or  for  worse  are  shaped  ac- 
cordingly, and  all  the  future  events  of  life  thus  moulded. 

The  strain  of  successful  or  unfortunate  existences  will 
be  measured  by  the  capacity  to  resist  or  overcome  every 
billow  encountered  during  life's  rough  voyage.  All  are 
not  born  equally  fortunate.  Some  have  to  resist  the 
worst  of  all  tyrannies,  that  of  a  faulty  physical  organiza- 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  2OO, 

tion,  which  sooner  or  later  entails  moral  ruin  and  destruc- 
tion. Upon  some  individuals  are  accumulated  the 
miseries,  shortcomings,  and  weaknesses  of  an  ancestry 
tinctured  with  every  conceivable  disaster  which  physical 
and  moral  causes  combined  can  conspire  to  produce. 
Such  a  combat  is  not  an  equal  one.  Such  persons,  from 
their  early  existence,  are  launched  upon  a  surging  sea 
of  angry  contention,  are  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the 
innumerable  wrecks  of  victims  in  their  own  household, 
who  were  stranded  through  the  inherent  weakness  of 
uncultivated  and  undeveloped  wills.  The  culture  of  the 
will,  therefore,  can  alone  save  them  from  a  similar  fate. 
This  will-power,  contained  as  it  is  in  "  the  dome  of 
thought  —  the  palace  of  the  soul,"  must  needs  be 
developed  during  the  elaborations  attendant  upon  intel- 
lectual training.  The  potentiality  of  the  will  is  suscepti- 
ble of  marvellous  development.  Let  the  incredulous 
exercise  their  will  as  they  do  their  muscles,  and  every 
battle  gained  will  serve  to  convince  them  of  the  truth  of 
this  assertion.  Every  effort  in  this  direction  will  be 
succeeded  by  results  almost  palpable  in  their  effects. 
Men  attain  thus  the  object  of  their  life's  ambition. 
Control  is  the  greatest  gift  man  possesses. 

"  Genius  itself  will  often  pale  into  insignificance  when 
reviewing  what  it  has  accomplished,  compared  with  the 
calm  survey  of  life's  battle-field  by  the  hero  of  innumer- 
able conflicts,  whose  victories  were  obtained  by  the 
superiority  of  will-influence.  Of  all  endowments,  con- 
trol is  the  most  precious,  and  its  nurture  is  our  most 
bounden  duty.  For  a  happy  and  useful  life,  perhaps 
control  is  more  needful  than  quality,  volume,  variety, 
or  even  tension  of  brain.  But  that  which  they  who 


2IO  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

govern  education  can  do  is  to  give  to  genius  and  to 
character  a  free  way  for  expansion  and  action. 

The  pure  and  brilliant  conceptions  eliminated  from 
the  intellectual  domain  by  the  energy  of  the  will  attain 
their  culmination  in  the  heroic  inspirations  of  Homer 
and  Virgil,  the  admirable  calculations  of  Newton,  the 
splendid  speculations  of  Descartes  and  of  Leibnitz,  the 
funeral  orations  of  Bossuet,  the  immortal  tragedies  of 
Shakespeare  and  Racine,  the  science  of  an  Alexander 
von  Humboldt,  and  the  genius  of  Caesar  and  Napoleon. 
Finally,  control  is  partly  innate,  but  greatly  the  creature 
of  education.  It  is,  I  believe,  the  earliest  work  of  edu- 
cation, the  safest  work,  and  the  most  abiding.  For  an 
illustration  of  my  premises,  and  to  exemplify  the  ad- 
vantages of  disciplined  will  and  intellect,  I  would  recall 
to  your  minds  a  name  of  magic  influence,  that  of  Father 
De  Smet,  one  of  the  illustrious  founders  of  this  vener- 
able college,  who  came  to  this  country  unheralded  and 
unknown.  Could  a  grander  triumph  be  instanced  than 
this  noble  university,  in  addition  to  the  innumerable 
churches,  societies,  and  institutions  which  this  truly 
great  man  was  instrumental  in  scattering  from  here  to 
the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  ?  It  was  he  who, 
through  the  irresistible  power  of  his  great  mind  and  soul, 
effected  conquests  which  were  not  attainable  by  the 
armies  of  the  United  States. 

Tribes  and  nations  of  savages,  successfully  rebellious 
for  a  century  against  the  civil  and  military  power  of  this 
great  government,  became  in  his  hands  plastic  as  clay, 
docile  and  tractable  as  lambs.  Why  question  history 
for  names  that  have  rilled  the  world  with  the  voice  of 
their  achievements,  whose  echoes  will  repeat  themselves 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  211 

throughout  time,  and  whose  success  was  mainly  the  re- 
sult of  culture  ?  Why  do  this,  when  each  of  you  who 
is  familiar  with  the  history  of  the  present  and  the  past 
could  furnish  these  instances  yourselves ;  when  we  can 
bring  to  your  mind  to-night  an  individual  who,  though 
no  longer  among  us,  is  recognized  in  all  these  monu- 
ments of  learning,  piety,  material  progress,  and  every 
thing  that  can  elevate  and  ennoble  human  character? 
The  impress  of  his  intellect  and  noble  heart  will  live  for 
all  time  in  the  traditions  of  the  poor  savages  whom 
he  befriended  with  a  fatherly  love,  and  in  the  memories 
of  more  cultured  minds  wherever  civilization  is  known. 
Let  us,  therefore,  in  honor  of  education  and  aesthetic 
culture,  erect,  as  has  already  been  done  in  foreign 
climes,  a  monument  of  bronze  or  granite,  and  inscribe 
upon  it  the  great  name  of  De  Smet,  which,  though 
amidst  the  wreck  of  matter,  the  fall  of  empires,  and  the 
crush  of  worlds,  will  crumble  away,  as  eventually  it 
must,  yet  his  name  will  still  be  green  in  the  memories 
and  affections  of  all  good  souls." 


COMMEMORATIVE  LINES  BY  WALTER  J.  BLAKELY,  ON  THE 
PART  OF  ST.  MARK'S  ACADEMY. 

"Ad  Major  em  Dei  Gloriam." 
What  time  the  Spaniard,  on  his  bed  of  pain, 
With  soldier's  mind  impatient,  sought  to  find 
A  solace,  for  the  moment,  in  the  tales 
Of  men  who,  for  the  glory  of  their  God, 
Strove  with  audacious  piety  to  mould 
Their  lives  in  semblance  of  His  Son's  —  a  power 
Went  forth  into  the  world,  to  set  its  seal, 
With  deep  distinctness  and  unfaltering  hand, 
Where'er  the  will  of  God  should  claim  its  work. 


212  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

Some  men  are  born,  ordained  from  earliest  days, 

In  our  own  eyes,  His  servants.     On  their  brows 

We  see  His  mark  of  sanctity  impressed 

So  broad  and  deep,  that  foreordained  they  walk, 

From  childhood  until  death,  His  holy  will 

Performing  still,  by  right,  from  day  to  day. 

And  some  there  are  that,  in  our  human  eyes  — 

Formed  but  to  see  the  petty  things  that  fill 

The  little  measure  of  our  wants  and  joys  — 

Burn  incense  on  Fame's  shining  altar-stone, 

To  catch  th'  applauding  world's  vain  smile  —  when  in 

The  plans  of  the  Almighty  they  are  set 

Within  the  foremost  rank  of  all  His  hosts, 

To  draw  the  sword  when  He  shall  give  command, 

And  smite  the  powers  of  darkness. 

Such  a  one 

Was  he  of  Tarsus  — living  to  appall, 
With  threats  of  death  and  persecutions  dire 
Those  who  had  walked  with  Christ,  until  the  will 
Of  the  Almighty  launched  the  fiery  bolt 
That  near  Damascus'  gates  struck  to  the  earth, 
Prostrate,  the  cruel  and  relentless  Saul, 
That  he,  regenerate,  renewed,  inspired, 
Might  rise  again,  to  stand  before  the  world, 
Apostle  of  the  nations. 

So  find  we  in  the  armed  hand  which  struck, 

In  war,  the  mailed  Loyola  to  the  earth 

An  instrument  of  God  —  that  this  stern  man, 

Whose  soldier  eyes  gazed  with  exultant  joy 

On  death  and  carnage,  might  turn  them  with  love 

And  pity  on  the  helpless  ones  of  Christ; 

Whose  ears  drank  in  the  trumpet's  deafening  clang 

As  music  sweet,  might  hear,  as  one  with  power 

To  bind  and  loose,  tales  of  repentant  souls; 

Whose  voice,  from  cries  of  battle  and  fierce  oaths 

In  heat  of  conflict,  might  be  changed  to  call 

Rebellious  Christians  to  their  Father's  home, 

And  preach  the  Word  divine  in  every  land. 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  213 

As  floats  the  thistle-down  upon  the  breeze, 

Far  from  the  parent  stem,  its  vapory  form 

Alighting  in  new  fields  and  on  the  banks 

Of  distant  streams,  where  shortly  we  may  see 

Similitude  of  that  from  whence  it  came, 

Arising  but  to  spread  itself  again  — 

So,  since  the  days  Loyola  lived  and  taught, 

There  has  not  blown  a  wind  that  did  not  fill 

Some  whitened  sail,  bearing  to  distant  lands 

His  earnest  sons,  to  plant  the  seeds  of  Faith. 

There  has  not  been  a  tree  grown  from  that  seed 

That,  nourished  by  the  blood  and  sweat  of  those 

Who  watched  its  growth,  has  not  sent  out  new  shoots 

To  thrive  and  blossom  ami  bring  forth  the  fruit 

Of  Faith. 

Beside  the  mighty  stream  that  drains 
A  continent,  and  rushing  to  the  sea, 
Greets,  with  the  waters  drawn  from  Northern  springs, 
The  waves  that  first  were  cloven  by  the  prows 
Of  the  Genoan,  we  are  met  to-night, 
To  con,  with  retrospective  glance,  the  work 
Of  half  a  century.     Most  fitting  place  ! 
For  where,  along  its  course,  have  not  been  seen 
The  dark-robed  sons  of  St.  Ignatius,  bent 
Upon  their  Master's  work  ?     While  yet  its  banks 
Bore  the  primeval  forest,  and  the  sound 
Of  rushing  waters  only  filled  the  air  — 
Save  where  the  wolf's  fierce  howl  or  panther's  scream 
Was  answered  by  the  yells  of  naked  men 
As  savage  as  themselves  —  its  bosom  bore 
Th'  adventurous  canoe  of  Pere  Marquette. 
While  yet  the  Old  World  sent  its  armies  forth 
To  stain  this  virgin  soil  with  blood,  and  'mid 
Its  gloomy  forests  for  dominion  strive, 
The  sturdy  black-gown,  fired  with  Xavier's  zeal, 
Alone,  but  fearless  in  the  cross  he  bore, 
A  kingdom  for  God's  greater  glory  sought, 
With  wealth  of  spoil  in  ransomed  human  souls. 
His  blood  has  mingled  with  these  waters,  shed 
By  savage  hands  of  those  he  came  to  save. 


214  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

His  ashes,  scattered  by  unconscious  winds 
From  where  the  stake  and  burning  fagot  claimed 
His  martyred  life,  but  lured  his  brethren  on  ; 
Till,  far  from  friends  and  kindred,  but  among 
The  baptized  heathen,  eager  now  to  hear 
The  tale  of  man's  redemption,  they  expired, 
Their  work  accomplished. 

Here  we  miss  to-night 

A  long  familiar  form,  well  marked  by  years 
And  worn  by  toil,  but  still  unbent  and  lithe 
As  those  borne  by  the  dusky  warriors 
For  whom  he  lived  ;  whose  pagan  souls  to  win, 
He  dared  all  dangers  of  the  wilderness. 
The  mountain's  terrors  and  Missouri's  floods, 
The  perils  of  the  plains  dismayed  him  not; 
The  winter's  cold  and  summer's  heat  he  bore, 
Impatient  to  win  all  to  Christ,  and  make 
Nature's  untutored  children  bow  and  bend 
Their  free,  proud  heads  obeisant  to  the  cross. 
His  days  have  been  accomplished  ;  but  his  fame, 
Against  his  humble  protest,  could  he  speak, 
Proclaims  the  Xavier  of  the  WEST —  DE  SMET. 

This  golden  term  of  years  has  passed  so  swift, 

When  measured  by  the  mighty  works  that  tell 

Of  man's  advancement  towards  the  Western  sun, 

That  we  may  well  essay  to  draw  the  veil 

Which  hides  the  future  of  our  land,  and  look, 

With  prophet's  gaze,  adown  broad  vistaed  time. 

Its  past  of  errors  and  its  wondrous  deeds, 

Its  crimes  and  god-like  acts  —  in  nothing  small, 

But  great  in  virtue  as  in  vice  —  are  naught 

To  that  vast  unborn  future,  lying  now 

Within  the  womb  of  time.     Ere  fifty  years 

Again  have  circled  swiftly  o'er  the  earth, 

And  closed  our  tombs,  or  else  have  bent  our  forms 

And  crowned  with  silver  hairs  our  wrinkled  blows, 

This  youthful  giant  of  the  Western  world 

Will  hold  within  his  hand  a  power  so  vast, 

For  weal  or  woe,  that  hushed  the  world  will  stand, 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE. 

"With  bated  breath,  to  hear  him  speak  his  will. 
Where  can  be  found  a  greater  work  than  this  ? 
To  mould  our  country's  destiny;  to  guide 
The  hands  aright  that,  in  those  days  to  come, 
Shall  hold  the  helm  of  state;  to  form  the  minds, 
In  justice  and  in  virtue,  of  the  ones 
Whose  actions  in  the  future  shall  control, 
Through  good  or  evil  will,  our  country's  fate  ? 

Where  can  God's  greater  glory  find  a  work 

More  vast  and  mighty?     Far  beyond  the  seas, 

Within  the  very  land  where  Christ  has  walked, 

We  see  the  Arab  prophet's  devotees 

Proclaim  their  sensual  creed.     Within  those  lands 

Where  the  apostles  taught,  or  where  their  words 

Were  carried  by  the  servants  of  the  cross, 

In  which  for  centuries  the  faith  had  grown 

Through  martyr's  blood  and  words  of  men  inspired, 

Behold  the  Church  afflicted  by  her  sons  ! 

Her  servants  banished  and  her  temples  closed ! 

Her  children,  elder  born,  refuse  to  bow 

To  that  grave  mother  whose  protecting  care 

Has  made  them  all  they  are;  till,  turning  West, 

She  greets  in  this  new  land  her  Benjamin  — 

Her  youngest  born. 

If  here  the  Church  should  find 
That  peace  denied  where  rule  ambitious  kings, 
Or  where  a  godless  people  bow  before 
And  worship  their  own  thoughts;  if  in  this  land 
The  oppressed  should  still  find  refuge ;  if  the  laws 
To  govern  a  free  people  should  come  forth 
From  hands  unsoiled  with  crime,  from  honest  hearts, 
From  minds  that  still  reflect  the  wise  designs 
Of  Him  who  rules,  omnipotent,  o'er  all  — 
The  rulers  of  the  times  to  be  must  know 
Their  manly  duty  now.     \Vhat  greater  work, 
O,  Sons  of  St.  Ignatius,  can  be  found, 
Or  has  been  known  than  this!     A  country  saved  — 
A  race  redeemed. 


2l6  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

These  venerable  walls 

To-night  have  once  again  within  their  bounds 
Familiar  forms.     The  gray-haired  priest  returns, 
To  greet  once  more  the  place  where,  in  his  youth, 
He  felt  the  touch  of  consecrated  hands. 
And  bearded  men  are  here,  upon  whose  lives 
The  cares  and  honors  of  the  world  have  pressed, 
To  think  upon  the  days  when  boyish  hopes 
And  youthful  fancies  filled  their  ardent  minds, 
Until  the  world  without  these  walls  seemed  made 
But  for  their  conquest.     Ah,  too  happy  dreams  ! 
What  rude  awakenings  come  when  from  the  doors 
Of  alma  mater  to  the  world  we  turn ! 
How  often  fame  eludes  the  grasp  !     How  soon 
Do  worldly  honors  fade  when,  after  years 
Of  hot  pursuit,  the  goal  seems  fairly  won ! 
How  happy  he  who,  'mid  the  weary  strife 
For  wealth  and  power,  perfects,  within  his  life, 
The  lesson  here  in  youth  received  ;  to  know 
The  RIGHT  —  and  rest  content  with  duties  done, 
With  trusts  fulfilled. 


JUDGE    BAKEWELL  S    ADDRESS. 

In  selecting  those  who  are  to  speak  at  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  this 
institution  of  learning,  the  reverend  gentlemen  by  whom 
it  is  conducted  have  had  the  kindness  to  think  of  me. 
It  would  have  been  quite  easy  to  find  many  who  would 
be  more  happy  in  their  manner  of  accomplishing  the 
agreeable  duty,  but  it  would  have  been  difficult,  I  think, 
to  find  one  who  is  more  entirely  in  sympathy  with  the 
occasion. 

A  permanence  of  fifty  years  in  this  world  of  change, 
and  in  this  country  of  change  and  of  progress,  is  in  itself 


GOLDEX    JUBILEE.  2I/ 

something  respectable.  It  is  a  lifetime  ;  and  some  of 
us  who  were  infants-in-arms  wl\en  this  college  was 
opened,  in  1829,  are  now  gray-haired  men.  Yet,  what 
is  fifty  years  to  the  venerable  company  of  which  this 
college  is  but  one  of  the  innumerable  monuments  that 
mark  the  march  of  the  soldiers.of  St.  Ignatius  through 
the  centuries  ?  It  is  more  than  six  times  fifty  years 
since  he  who  is  truly  the  founder  of  this  college,  as  he 
is  of  all  the  institutions  of  his  order,  having  completed 
the  work  that  it  was  appointed  for  him  to  do,  took  pos- 
session of  that  glorious  throne  from  which  he  looks 
down  upon  us  to-day.  But  the  society  that  he  founded 
remains  as  he  left  it.  It  is  animated  by  his  spirit;  the 
sons  have  all  the  look  of  the  father ;  it  is  unchanged, 
and  it  shows  no  signs  of  age. 

That  society  has  an  existence  of  more  than  three 
hundred  years.  It  was  born  at  the  Reformation,  in  the 
days  of  Luther  and  the  Council  of  Trent,  of  Henry 
VIII.  and  Francis  I.  It  is  the  last,  and  one  of  the 
youngest  of  the  children  of  the  most  fruitful  and  the 
mightiest  of  mothers.  And  what  are  the  centuries  to 
her?  If  fifty  years  is  a  small  fraction  of  the  life  of  the 
company,  what  are  three  hundred  years  to  the  life  of 
the  Catholic  Church  ?  From  St.  Paul  to  St.  Augustine, 
from  St.  Augustine  to  Gregory  the  Great  and  the  con- 
version of  England ;  from  Gregory  to  Charlemagne  and 
King  Alfred  ;  from  Alfred  to  Magna  Charta;  from  that 
date  to  the  revival  of  letters  in  Europe.  It  is  only  by 
fixing  the  eye  upon  these  great  secular  epochs,  sepa- 
rated by  periods  each  six  times  greater  than  that  which 
separates  us  from  the  date  when  this  old  college  was 
founded,  that  we  realize  how  old  that  society  is.  And 
yet  she  shows  no  sign  of  age.  She  was  more  than  five 
hundred  years  old  before  a  corner-stone  was  laid  of 


2l8  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

many  a  great  cathedral  in  which  her  stoled  priests,  from 
hundreds  of  altars,  £or  a  thousand  years,  reared  the 
chalice  in  which  the  blood  of  her  Divine  Founder  is  of- 
fered for  the  healing  of  the  nations.  And  three  hundred 
years  after  those  altars  have  been  desecrated,  and  every 
echo  has  died  of  the  pealing  anthem  which,  through 
long-drawn  aisle  and  fretted  vault,  sounded  there  the 
note  of  praise,  she  is  found  in  that  country  in  her  second 
spring,  and  for  a  Fisher  and  a  Pole  she  has  there  a 
Newman  and  a  Manning.  She  was  there  in  the  time  of 
the  Britons,  whose  civilization  and  conversion  she  wit- 
nessed. She  saw  that  civilization  pass  away,  and  she  con- 
verted and  civilized  in  their  turn  the  Saxon,  who^rove 
out  the  Briton,  and  the  Dane,  who  put  his  heel  for  a 
time  upon  the  Saxon's  neck.  She  witnessed  the  con- 
quest of  these  races  by  the  Norman ;  and  has  seen 
Briton,  Dane,  Saxon,  and  Norman  coalesce  into  a  new 
people;  and  she  is  this  day  preaching,  in  the  end  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  to  the  tradesmen  of  Birming- 
ham and  London  those  truths  which  she  taught  to  the 
painted  savages  of  the  same  island  in  the  days  of  Nero  ; 
which  she  taught  the  scarcely  less  savage  sea-kings, 
when  the  great  Roman  Empire  had  perished  of  its  own 
weight  (vis  consilii  expers),  and  to  Norman  baron  and 
Saxon  peasant,  in  the  days  of  Cceur  de  Lion  and  the 
crusades. 

To  those  who  believe  that  the  founder  of  this  inde- 
structible religion  was,  what  he  unmistakably  claimed 
to  be,  not  merely  a  true  teacher,  but  the  truth  itself,  — 
that  is,  God,  the  coeternal  and  coequal  word  and  wis- 
dom of  the  Eternal  Father,  —  it  is  needless  to  say  how 
great  an  occasion  for  rejoicing  is  the  jubilee  of  a  pros- 
perous institution  of  learning  conducted  in  our  midst 
for  fifty  years  by  priests  of  one  of  the  most  learned, 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE. 

most  devoted,  and  most  famous  societies  of  Christian 
priests  and  teachers  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  But, 
as  for  those  of  our  fellow-citizens  who  do  not  accept  in 
their  entirety  the  teachings  of  the  Catholic  Church,  I 
claim  that  this  is  for  them  also  an  occasion  upon  which 
they  may  look  with  satisfaction. 

In  the  preservation  of  society  and  in  the  progress  of 
civilization  we  all  profess,  and  we  all  have,  a  common 
interest.  We  live  in  an  age  of  progress,  by  which  it 
must  be  meant  that  we  live  in  an  age  in  which  men, 
having  turned  their  attention  earnestly  to  the  affairs  of 
this  life,  have  made,  and  every  day  are  making,  new  dis- 
coveries, which  give  men  more  control  over  physical 
nature.  So  far  as  moral  progress  is  concerned,  I  do  not 
know  that  any  one  claims  that  we  have  discovered,  or 
are  likely  to  discover,  any  new  truths  in  the  moral  order. 
The  danger  is  that  we  may,  in  the  ardor  of  developing 
our  material  civilization,  forget  some  old  truths  once 
generally  accepted  as  quite  axiomatic, —  truths  to  which 
the  Christian  Church  is,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  the  wit- 
ness, of  which  she  is  the  guardian,  and  which  it  is  the 
special  care  of  every  institution  of  learning  conducted 
by  her  children,  and  under  her  approbation,  to  incul- 
cate. 

A  Frenchman  said :  "  If  there  were  no  God,  it  would 
be  necessary  to  invent  Him."  This  has  an  impious 
sound  ;  and  strictly  taken,  it  is,  of  course,  absurd.  Yet 
every  one  can  see  that  it  is,  after  all,  but  a  pointed  way 
of  saying  that  there  can  be  no  liberty  without  order, 
no  order  without  obedience,  and  no  obedience  that  is 
not  slavery,  unless  there  be  a  supreme  law-giver,  all- 
powerful  and  all-wise. 

The  great  writers  of  Greece    and    Rome,  amongst 


22O  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

whom  the  traditions  of  the  human  race  were  perhaps 
not  so  much  diminished  as  many  have  supposed,  well 
understood  this,  and  often  spoke  of  it.  Cicero,  —  who, 
more  than  any  man,  occupied  himself  in  making  the 
philosophy  of  Grecian  schools,  three  centuries  older 
than  himself,  the  property,  as  it  were,  of  Rome,  by 
communicating  the  thoughts  of  their  writers  to  his 
countrymen,  through  the  medium  of  their  own  language, 
in  its  most  perfect  form  —  Cicero  again  and  again  insists 
that  the  foundations  of  the  Roman  State  were  deeply 
laid  in  religious  principles. 

The  idea  that  there  was  no  personal  God,  conscious  of 
His  own  existence,  the  rewarder  and  the  punisher,  was 
foreign  to  the  thoughts  of  these  men.  It  was  horrible 
to  them ;  and  they  saw  well  that  if  it  was  accepted,  the 
hand  of  every  man  would  be  against  his  neighbor,  would 
be  lost,  and  would  become  impossible.  "What,"  — 
the  bonds  of  society  would  be  dissolved,  civilization 
says  Cicero,  in  his  treatise  On  the  Nature  of  the  Gods  — 
"  what  is  more  patent  than  this,  when  we  look  up  to 
heaven  and  contemplate  the  heavenly  bodies,  that  there 
is  some  Numen  of  most  powerful  intelligence  by  whom 
they  are  ruled?  If  any  one  doubts  it,  he  may  doubt 
the  existence  of  the  sun.  For  what  is  clearer?  No 
mere  opinion  would  have  remained  thus  fixed  in  the 
human  race,  and  have  been  confirmed  as  this  has  been, 
by  length  of  time,  and  in  all  nations  and  ages.  False 
and  vain  opinions  yield,  as  we  see,  to  time,  which  only 
confirms  judgments  founded  upon  the  nature  of  things. 
Opinionum  enim  commenta  delet  dies,  naturcejudicia  con- 
firmat.  So  that,"  he  adds,  "both  in  our  people  and  in 
all  nations,  the  sacredness  of  religion  and  of  divine  wor- 
ship becomes  more  firmly  fixed  with  time."  "And  as  to 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  221 

the  usefulness  of  this  belief,"  he  says,  "  who  can  deny  it, 
that  understands  how  many  things  depend  on  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  oath  ;  how  salutary  are  the  religious  observ- 
ances that  give  their  binding  force  to  treaties;  how 
many  are  restrained  from  crime  for  fear  of  divine  punish- 
ment;  and  how  society  itself  is  rendered  sacred,  and 
sanctified  by  the  appeal  to  the  immortal  Gods  as  our 
judges  and  witnesses."  Thus  spoke  Cicero,  fifty  years 
before  the  birth  of  Christ,  when  the  original  traditions 
of  the  race  were  dying  out,  and  the  truths  of  natural 
religion  had  reached  their  point  of  greatest  obscuration. 
If  the  assertion  and  propagation  of  these  great  truths 
was  ever  needed  to  save  society,  surely  it  is  in  our  day, 
when  a  desolating  philosophy  has  spread  from  the  folio 
to  the  quarto,  from  the  book  to  the  review,  from  the 
review  to  the  newspaper,  and  is  thus  finding  its  way  to 
every  one  that  reads,  in  an  age  that  is  careful  that  every 
one  should  read,  but  quite  careless  that  few  have  minds 
so  disciplined  as  to  read  aright,  or  to  choose  the  reading 
suited  to  their  capacities  and  their  wants.  Who  that 
has  not  a  firm  belief  in  the  responsibility  of  man  for  his 
actions  and  his  thoughts  to  a  God  that  created  man,  and 
wills  that  he  should  live  in  society,  can  meet  the  argu- 
ments of  the  Socialist  and  disorganizer  ?  How,  except 
on  religious  principles,  is  the  antagonism  to  be  harmon- 
ized of  poor  and  rich,  or  the  relations  and  conflicting 
claims  of  labor  and  capital  to  be  adjusted  ?  If  man  is 
but  the  creature  of  an  hour,  has  he  not  a  right  to  enjoy 
that  hour  ?  And  why  should  the  few  be  permitted  to 
revel  in  luxury,  whilst  the  mass  are  doomed  to  toil  and 
sweat  for  the  bare  necessaries  of  existence,  and  with  the 
constant  and  reasonable  fear  before  them  of  being  de- 
prived even  of  the  nothing  that  they  have? 


222  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

What,  without  a  divine  sanction  for  law,  is  law  but  the 
arbitrary  will  of  irresponsible  power  ?  How  can  liberty 
exist  without  law  ?  And  how,  without  degradation,  is 
obedience  possible  to  a  power  that  has  no  right  to 
command  ? 

If,  then,  civilization  is  to  retain  what  it  has  gained, 
and  to  extend  its  conquests ;  if  society  is  to  exist,  and 
not  to  perish  in  horrible  convulsions,  in  which  every 
thing  that  is  precious  to  civilized  man  must  be  destroyed, 
there  must  be  religious  men ;  and  if  you  would  have 
religious  men,  there  must  be  religious  education. 

Natural  science,  to  which  we  are  all  so  devoted, 
deals  only  with  phenomena.  It  has  no  religious  tend- 
ency whatever ;  it  does  not  set  about  inferring  religious 
truths.  We  have  academies  and  schools  in  abundance 
in  which  purely  secular  knowledge  may  be  acquired, 
but  in  which,  owing  to  a  want  of  accord  in  fundamental 
religious  principles,  it  is  agreed  that  there  shall  be  no 
religious  teaching,  and  no  inculcation  of  moral  princi- 
ples founded  on  religious  dogma.  It  cannot  be  a  mat- 
ter of  indifference  to  any  man  that  loves  his  country 
that  there  are  also  schools  amongst  us  in  which,  whilst 
the  natural  sciences  are  not  neglected,  those  religious 
principles  that  address  themselves,  not  only  to  the 
intellect,  but  to  the  heart  and  the  affections,  are  also 
carefully  inculcated.  The  prosperity  of  an  institution 
of  learning  such  as  this  —  in  which  men  whose  lives  are 
devoted  to  study,  and  who  have  inherited  the  traditions 
of  a  teaching  order  that  has  numbered  among  its  mem- 
bers, for  three  centuries,  the  most  distinguished  men  in 
every  branch  of  human  science,  the  greatest  orators, 
those  who,  above  all  others,  have  advanced  the  study 
of  the  ancient  classics,  great  Oriental  scholars,  natural- 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  223 

ists,  theologians,  casuists,  poets,  political  economists, 
philosophers — is  a  matter  of  rejoicing  for  every  man 
who  loves  his  country,  and  who  takes  an  interest  in  the 
future  of  the  great  city  in  which  such  an  institution  has 
fixed  its  home,  and  with  which  it  has  grown  up. 

It  is  every  year  sending  out  into  society  an  increas- 
ing number  of  young  men,  who  leave  its  walls,  grounded 
not  only  in  those  things  that  are  taught  in  all  higher 
schools,  but  also  imbued  with  those  conservative  prin- 
ciples, a  moderate  infusion  of  which  even  the  most 
ardent  liberal  can  hardly  consider  as  otherwise  than 
a  benefit  in  a  mixed  society  such  as  ours. 

The  ship  will  not  move  without  the  sails ;  but  the 
more  sail  it  has  the  less  it  will  go,  if  it  has  no  ballast ; 
and  of  those  who  do  not  believe  in  the  Catholic  relig- 
ion, very  many,  at  least,  have  a  sincere  belief  in  the 
absolute  necessity  of  those  conservative  principles  in 
government,  of  those  doctrines  of  respect  for  authority, 
of  those  principles  of  self-control,  of  obedience,  of  fear 
of  God,  which  have  always  been  the  foundation  of  her 
teaching,  and  to  which  she  has  been  so  consistent  and 
so  constant  a  witness.  If  we  are  to  arm  against  the 
dangerous  elements  that  threaten  society,  "  it  must  be 
by  uniting  in  affection  all  those  who  are  united  in  the 
great  principles  of  a  Godhead  that  made  and  sustained 
the  world."  This  is  the  language  of  the  wisest  and  the 
most  brilliant  of  modern  statesmen,  —  Edmund  Burke. 
We  must  cherish  and  blow  up  the  slightest  spark  of 
those  principles  of  obedience  to  legitimate  authority 
that  are  becoming  so  much  weakened  in  our  days,  and 
which  are  so  essential  to  liberty  and  civilization.  With 
what  hearty  sympathy,  then,  must  all  men  of  good  will 
unite  in  wishing  continued  prosperity  to  the  old  St. 


224  ST-  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

Louis  University;  and  that,  in  the  future,  as  in  the 
past,  it  may  prosper  and  increase,  —  an  honor  to  our 
city,  and  one  of  the  great  sources  of  our  well-being  and 
our  wealth. 

It  would  be  appropriate,  on  an  occasion  of  this  char- 
acter, to  review  the  history  of  the  college,  to  speak  of 
those  honored  men  who  founded  it,  of  those  who  have 
studied  and  taught  within  its  walls,  or  who  from  its 
peaceful  cloisters  have  gone  forth  on  great  missions 
as  teachers  and  preachers,  —  the  benefactors  of  their 
race.  I  do  not  know  whether  this  will  be  done.  I  can- 
not do  it.  I  do  not  know  who  can  appropriately  do  it. 
But  this  I  know  :  that  we  have  had  within  these  walls, 
during  the  thirty  years  that  I  have  resided  in  St.  Louis, 
men  of  such  parts,  of  such  learning,  of  such  humility 
and  charity,  adorned  with  so  many  gracious  gifts,  that 
it  has  always  seemed  to  me  a  sort  of  diabolical  miracle 
that,  with  such  men  as  these,  —  and  they  exist  every- 
where, and  are  spread  over  the  world  (for  of  all  men  the 
Jesuit  can  say,  Qua  regio  in  terris  nostri  non  plena  la- 
boris?\ — the  empire  of  ignorance,  of  folly,  and  of  crime 
retains  such  imposing  proportions. 

Who  that  knew  them  can  forget  De  Smet  or  Mur- 
phy, —  fine  gentlemen,  as  the  French  say,  to  the  end  of 
their  finger-nails,  —  men  of  distinguished  families,  who 
left  country  and  home  to  plant  the  flag  of  Christian  edu- 
cation in  what  was  then  considered  the  outskirts  of  civil- 
ization ;  or  the  saintly  Father  Druyts,  or  Father  Gleizal? 
When  will  St.  Louis  again  have  a  public  speaker  that 
could  move  an  audience  as  could  Father  Smarius  ?  And 
of  the  living,  one  could  not  speak  the  truth,  so  honor- 
able to  them,  in  their  presence  without  giving  pain  ;  and 
of  the  wonderful  hidden  lives  of  an  Arnoudt  and  a 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  22$ 

Spicher,  before  they  can  be  described,  there  must  be 
one  to  speak  who  can  not  only  admire  and  measurably 
appreciate  the  wonderful  union  of  the  highest  virtue  and 
learning  with  profound  abnegation  and  humility,  but 
one  who  can  understand  it,  and  who  feels  that  in  speak- 
ing of  it  he  does  not  profane  so  great  a  subject  by  un- 
worthy lips. 

Thoughts  of  these  men  are  inseparable  from  this 
happy  day  of  the  jubilee  of  the  St.  Louis  University ;  but 
to  a  large  portion  of  my  audience  these  men  were  known, 
and  it  is  sufficient  to  name  them,  to  awaken  recollec- 
tions amidst  which  my  poor  words  would  seem  an  im- 
pertinence. 

Happy  the  country  where  such  men  dwell  at  peace. 
Happier  still  the  land  that  welcomes  such  men,  and  in- 
trusts to  them,  and  to  those  like  them,  the  training  of 
its  youth.  May  America  see  those  happy  seats  of  re- 
ligion and  learning  multiplied  throughout  its  borders. 
And  of  the  St.  Louis  University  may  it  be  said,  that  her 
fiftieth  year  was  but  the  beginning  of  her  life.  May  she 
flourish  with  our  dear  city  of  St.  Louis,  and  with  our  be- 
loved country,  and  with  the  institutions  of  our  country; 
and  may  all  three  be  perpetual,  as  far  as  this  is  pos- 
sible for  the  institutions  of  men. 


GOV.    REYNOLDS     ADDRESS. 

For  half  a  century  this  eminent  institution  of  learn- 
ing has  been  successfully  engaged  in  shedding  the  com- 
bined lights  of  Christianity  and  science  on  this  Missis- 
sippi Valley,  and  even  on  regions  beyond  it.  Honored 
by  its  invitation  to  take  part  in  this  celebration  of  its 

15 


226  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

jubilee,  I  have  failed  to  find  any  subject  worthier  of 
consideration  on  this  occasion  —  or,  at  least,  any  subject 
to  which  I,  as  a  lawyer,  may  hope  to  do  more  justice, 
however  imperfect  —  than  that  of 

The  Influence  of  Christianity  on  Legislation. 

No  diligent  student  of  the  history  of  jurisprudence 
can  have  failed  to  notice  that,  in  the  progress  of  law,  in 
all  heathen  nations,  however  great  their  advancement  in 
letters,  the  sciences,  and  the  arts,  legislation  takes  but 
feeble  steps  forward,  or  none  at  all,  in  many  depart- 
ments which  receive  the  closest  attention  from  every 
Christian  government.  Nor  is  this  true  only  of  nations 
afflicted  by  the  superstitions  of  a  gross  and  sensuous 
idolatry;  the  assertion  applies,  with  more  or  less  jus- 
tice, to  the  followers  of  the  merely  intellectual  systems 
of  Confucius  or  Sakya  Mouni,  as  well  as  to  the  polished 
worshippers  of  Jupiter,  or  of  Isis  and  Osiris,  the  millions 
who  submit  to  the  rule  of  the  Brahmins,  the  fanatical 
followers  of  Mahomet,  and  the  remarkable  race  which, 
confounding  the  material  with  the  spiritual,  worshipped 
fire  as  the  emblem  of  divine  purity. 

Possibly  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  departments 
alluded  to  is  that  which  relates  to  the  poor,  and  those 
ill  in  body  or  mind.  In  every  country  ruled  by  Chris- 
tians, we  find  that  the  government  itself  considers  one 
of  its  most  important  duties  to  be  the  care  of  the  poor, 
the  sick,  and  the  insane ;  and,  in  more  recent  times,  the 
blind,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  even,  in  some  lands,  the 
drunkard,  have  become  the  wards  of  the  State.  In 
ancient  Greece  and  Rome,  and  in  the  wide  domain  of  the 
Roman  empire,  before  the  tenets  of  Christianity  began 
silently  to  influence  even  its  pagan  legislation,  we  look 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  22/ 

in  vain  for  any  trace  of  interest  taken  by  the  govern- 
ment, as  such,  in  the  welfare  of  any  of  those  unfortu- 
nates. Shrewd  speculators  in  the  slave-trade,  or  great 
landed  proprietors,  may  here  and  there  have  seen  profit 
in  caring  for  the  health  of  their  dependents  as  fully 
as  for  that  of  their  cattle  and  their  dogs.  The  numerous 
sodalities  of  heathendom  may  possibly  have  mingled 
with  their  religious  or  social  obligations  occasional 
charities  to  their  own  members.  Around  a  popular 
temple  of  yEsculapius,  the  sick  in  body  or  mind  would 
take  up  their  abodes,  and  enrich  its  priests  by  their  gifts. 
But  nowhere  do  we  find  any  distinct  trace  of  any  thing 
at  all  resembling  either  a  private  or  a  public  hospital ; 
and  the  hereditary  physicians  themselves,  who  pre- 
scribed in  the  temple,  had  really  no  more  claim  upon 
private  gratitude  than  we  can  now  admit  to  the  well- 
feed  waiter  on  the  ill-fed  patrons  of  an  hotel  at  a  fash- 
ionable watering-place.  In  general,  the  heathen  gov- 
ernments seem  to  have  left  the  poor  and  the  sick  to 
their  fate,  trusting  for  the  improvement  of  the  race 
to  the  Darwinian  doctrine  of  the  "  survival  of  the 
strongest." 

The  Mahometans,  the  Buddhists,  and  the  Par- 
sees,  it  is  true,  may  claim  credit  for  numerous  public 
benevolent  institutions,  founded  and  maintained  by 
sovereigns  or  private  individuals.  But,  nevertheless, 
none  of  them  have  made  that  great  advance  by  which 
the  government  itself  recognizes  its  duty,  as  a  govern- 
ment, to  initiate,  organize,  maintain,  and  regulate  that 
comprehensive  charity  which  is  peculiarly  designated 
as  "  Christian."  I  am  not  aware  that  it  has  ever  been 
claimed  for  any  Jewish  government  that  it  concerned 
itself,  as  a  government,  about  the  maintenance  of  public 


228  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

charities.  But  the  munificent  benevolence  of  the  Israel- 
ites of  our  own  times  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  that,  to 
the  extent  to  which  they  influence  legislation,  they  fol- 
low those  principles  of  chanty  which  are  common  to 
both  religions,  and  the  earliest  germs  of  which  are  found 
in  the  legislation  of  Moses  himself. 

A  very  little  less  conspicuous  influence  of  Christianity 
on  a  department  of  legislation  is  that  which  has  affected 
the  domestic  relations.  I  say  less  conspicuous,  solely 
because  ancient  history  offers  so  many  illustrious  ex- 
amples of  pure  and  happy  families,  that  we  are  led  to 
pay  less  attention  than  we  should  to  the  weakness  of 
the  foundation  on  which  that  happiness  was  erected,  in 
legislation  itself.  I  know  not  what  is  the  prevalent 
opinion  of  scholars  in  regard  to  the  precise  nature  of 
that  solemn  religious  ceremony  of  marriage  among 
the  ancient  Roman  patricians,  which  they  called  confar- 
rcatio.  But  my  own  reading  has  led  me  to  the  conclu- 
sion (which  I  state  with  great  diffidence  before  the 
erudite  scholars  now  around  me)  that  it  made  the  mar- 
riage indissoluble ;  and  the  boast  of  the  old  Romans, 
that  for  several  centuries  after  the  founding  of  their 
city  no  divorce  ever  took  place,  is  on  a  par  with  a  like 
boast  of  the  South  Carolinians,  whose  laws  never  per- 
mitted any  divorce  from  the  bond  of  matrimony  at  all. 
With  this  patrician  exception  (if  it  be  one),  marriage 
was  among  all  the  nations,  prior  to  the  coming  of  our 
Saviour,  practically  dissoluble  at  the  will  of  the  parties 
to  it,  and  usually  at  the  caprice  of  the  husband ;  and  it 
still  is  so  in  the  legislation  of  all  non-Christian  govern- 
ments. Among  the  most  instructive  pages  in  the  his- 
tory of  jurisprudence  are  those  which  record  the  long 
and  fierce  combats  of  Christianity  for  the  sanctity  of 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  229 

marriage.  Time  does  not  permit,  and  a  proper  regard 
for  the  comfort  of  my  audience  forbids  my  giving  even 
a  sketch  of  that  great  moral  and  religious  war. 

The  domestic  history  of  the  Caesars,  and  the  pages 
in  which  even  a  philosopher,  Apuleius,  calmly  describes 
the  detestable  license  of  his  time,  may  teach  us  the 
incalculable  value  to  us,  and  indeed  to  the  entire  human 
race,  of  the  victory  which  Christianity  won.  In  the 
legislation  of  all  civilized  nations  of  the  present  day, 
the  permanency  of  marriage  is  recognized,  protected, 
and  enforced.  Indeed,  it  might  almost  be  said  that  the 
relation  is  treated  as,  in  principle,  indissoluble ;  for  even 
in  those  codes  in  which  divorce  from  the  bond  of  mat- 
rimony is  permitted,  it  is  so  always  by  virtue  of  some 
exception  to  the  general  rule,  and  in  by  far  the  larger 
portion  of  Christendom  such  divorce  is  not  permitted 
at  all.  The  women  who,  in  our  own  day,  are  misled  by 
a  false  philosophy  into  claiming  political  rights,  although 
nature  has  denied  them  the  physical  capacity  to  perform 
the  corresponding  duties,  should  remember  that  it  is  to 
Christianity,  and  not  the  philosophy  of  the  heathen  world, 
that  they  are  indebted  for  the  enviable  position  their 
sex  now  holds. 

In  many  other  departments  of  the  law,  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  has  brought  about  great  and  beneficent 
changes.  To  name  but  a  few :  it  has  improved  the 
relations  of  debtor  and  creditor,  of  master  and  serf,  or 
slave;  the  criminal  code,  the  laws  of  war,  and  the 
conduct  of  the  government  towards  the  vanquished  in 
civil  war.  But  the  limit  assigned  to  this  address  does  not 
permit  me  to  go  into  any  details;  they  will  readily  occur 
to  the  careful  student  of  ancient  history,  in  comparing 
it  with  the  records  of  modern  times.  I  shall  therefore 


23O  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

close  by  calling  attention  to  an  influence,  even  yet  not 
fully  developed  and  ascertained,  but  which  may  be 
Christianity's  "  crowning  mercy  "to  human  legislators. 
Many  years  ago,  an  eminent  European  publicist 
pointed  out  the  striking  difference  between  the  fate  of  free 
government  in  the  heathen  nations  and  the  course  it  has 
run  in  the  Christian.  Republics,  or  other  forms  of  free 
government  in  ancient  times,  arose,  flourished,  and  ulti- 
mately were  subverted  by  the  merest  despotism.  The 
fate  of  the  republics  of  Greece  and  Italy  is  familiar  to  us. 
Those  learned  in  the  antiquities  of  India  and  China  say 
that  in  the  early  annals  and  legends  of  even  those  coun- 
tries there  are  traces  of  the  existence  of  free  institutions, 
and  semi-republican  forms  of  government,  among  the 
ancestors  of  the  millions  of  pagans  now  subject  to  the  for- 
eign rule  of  the  Briton  or  the  Mantchou  Tartar.  But,  in 
every  instance,  the  repose  pagan  liberty  sought  in  the 
arms  of  absolutism  has  been  the  sleep  of  death.  There 
was  no  resurrection  for  her.  But,  where  Christianity  has 
guided  the  consciences  of  the  rulers  and  the  ruled  alike, 
not  only  have  the  severities  seemingly  inseparable  from 
despotism  been  vastly  diminished,  in  comparison  with 
the  rigor  of  pagan  tyranny,  but  in  every  case  well-regu- 
lated liberty  has  regained,  or  is  on  the  road  to  regain, 
the  supremacy  over  irresponsible  absolutism.  The 
history  of  Christian  nations  presents  a  Richard  III.  of 
England,  a  Peter  the  Cruel  of  Castile,  and  an  insane 
Paul  of  Russia;  but  it  has  no  Nero  or  Domitian,  Pha- 
laris  or  Herod.  And  this  influence  of  Christianity  has 
been  all  the  more  striking  because,  unlike  the  other 
influences  I  have  alluded  to,  it  came  from  no  direct  com- 
mand. "  Render  unto  Csesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's, 
and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's,"  was  all  that 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  23! 

we  were  told;  but  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  controlling 
both  the  Caesar  and  those  who  were  under  him,  slowly, 
but  surely,  working  its  way  into  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
all,  has  in  the  course  of  eighteen  centuries  produced  a 
political  Christendom  in  which  true  liberty  finds  its 
firmest  support  in  the  doctrines  of  Him  who  commanded 
each  and  all  of  us,  from  the  hereditary  monarch  on  an 
undisputed  throne  down  to  the  slave  who  toils  at  an 
unwelcome  task,  to  "  love  his  neighbor  as  himself." 

Go  forward,  therefore,  gallant  soldiers  of  the  Company 
of  Jesus,  reverend  and  learned  faculty  of  the  St.  Louis 
University,  in  your  labors,  combining  the  light  of  Chris- 
tianity with  that  of  education.  The  success  which  has 
crowned  your  efforts  in  the  past  is  a  guarantee  of  still 
more  brilliant  successes  in  the  future  ;  and  as  you  make 
science  the  handmaid  of  religion,  rejoice  that  both  are 
the  safest  guides  to  that  well-ordered  freedom  of  which 
our  country  is  so  justly  proud. 


There  was  a  slight  intermission  devoted  to  music,  at 
the  close  of  which  Father  Schapman  appeared  upon  the 
stage,  bearing  the  framed  original  of  the  brief  of  his 
Holiness  Pope  Leo  XIII.  Before  proceeding  to  read 
the  brief,  Father  Keller  thanked  the  audience  for  their 
liberal  attendance  and  the  interest  taken  in  the  affairs 
of  the  university.  He  also  returned  thanks  to  the  news- 
papers for  spreading  the  news  of  the  approaching  cele- 
bration and  gathering  together  the  sons  of  alma  mater. 
Then  taking  the  brief  in  hand,  and  remarking  that  it  was 
signed  and  sealed  by  the  hand  of  our  Holy  Father,  Pope 
Leo  XIII.,  he  proceeded  to  read  first  the  Latin,  and  then 
the  translation  of  the  Brief,  which  we  gave  on  page  171. 


232  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

The  following  congratulatory  letter  from  the  Young- 
Men's  Sodality,  attached  to  the  college  church,  de- 
serves to  be  inserted  :  — 

From  the  Young  Men 's  Sodality  of  St.  Xavier 's  Church: 

ST.  Louis,  Mo.,  June  24,  1879. 

REVEREND  AND  DEAR  FATHER: — The  members  of 
the  Young  Men's  Sodality  beg  leave  to  tender  their 
congratulations  to  the  St.  Louis  University  on  this  her 
Golden  Jubilee.  Few  of  those  who  first  helped  to 
found  our  sodality  are  left  to  us ;  many  are  in  a  better 
land,  and  others  are  scattered  over  the  wide  world ;  but 
we  who  succeed  them,  —  we  who  have  had  handed 
down  to  us  all  the  many  benefits  and  kindnesses  of  her 
maternal  care,  —  beg  leave  to  present  our  congratula- 
tions, with  the  hope  that  her  coming  years  may  be  as 
glorious  and  useful  as  those  now  past.  And  when 
another  fifty  years  shall  have  passed  over  her  then  vener- 
able head,  though  we  may  be  no  more,  and  others  may 
stand  in  our  stead  to  again  congratulate  our  kind 
mother,  may  they  bear  in  their  hearts  the  same  warm 
love  and  respect  as  those  who  have  now  the  honor 
of  being  your  loving  children. 

EUGENE  C.  SLEVIN, 
AMEDEE  V.  REYBURN, 
JOHN  F.  BURKE, 
JOHN  B.  DENVIR, 

Committee. 


The  following  editorial  from  the  St.  Louis  Repub- 
lican, of  June  24th,  the  day  of  the  celebration,  while 
written  from  a  purely  secular  standpoint,  will  serve  to 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  233 

show  all  the  more  plainly  the  esteem  in  which  non- 
Catholics  of  St.  Louis  and  vicinity,  of  whose  opinions 
and  sentiments  it  is  here  a  fair  exponent,  hold  the  insti- 
tution which  has  grown  up  with  this  leading  city  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  The  Republican  is  the  oldest  news- 
paper in  St.  Louis ;  nay,  it  is,  perhaps,  the  oldest  exist- 
ing newspaper  in  the  West,  it  having  been  started  in 
the  year  1808  :  — 

A     WORTHY     INSTITUTION. 

The  St.  Louis  University,  which  celebrates  to-day 
with  becoming  pomp  and  ceremony  the  golden  anni- 
versary of  its  foundation,  will  receive  from  this  commu- 
nity, and  every  part  of  the  whole  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, in  which  its  educational  influence  has  been  felt 
for  half  a  century,  such  hearty  and  unanimous  congrat- 
ulations as  are  rarely  accorded  sectarian  institutions. 
Founded  fifty  years  ago,  by  a  religious  society  whose 
members  make  no  prouder  boast  than  that  they  are 
first  of  all,  and  before  all  things  else,  soldiers  of  the 
cross,  it  has  of  necessity  been  sectarian  in  the  manner 
and  method  of  its  teachings.  The  Jesuits  enlist  for 
life  in  the  army  of  the  Church,  and  their  special  devo- 
tion to  the  cause  of  education  is  but  because  they  can 
more  efficiently  battle  for  religion  in  that  field  than  in 
any  other.  That  the  Church  and  the  school  shall  go 
hand  in  hand  is,  therefore,  a  primary  and  necessary 
principle  of  the  platform  on  which  they  have  founded 
and  reared  the  thousands  of  institutions  which  have 
been  born  and  fostered  into  prosperity  and  power,  in  all 
quarters  of  the  globe,  under  the  watchful  care  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  They  cannot  be  other  than  sectarian, 
since  the  first  and  highest  duty  to  which  they  are 


234  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

pledged  is  the  inculcation  of  those  religious  tenets  the 
belief  and  observance  of  which  they  hold  necessary  to 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  man.  In  despite  of  sectarian- 
ism, however,  no  limitations  of  sects  will  hedge  about 
the  rejoicings  at  the  jubilee  of  the  St.  Louis  University. 
Grateful  recollection  of  work  well  and  worthily  done 
will  stir  the  bosoms  of  thousands  of  our  people  who 
are  not  of  the  same  creed  as  the  fathers  who  have 
conducted  that  institution,  but  who  know  full  well  that 
any  history  of  St.  Louis  failing  to  give  due  measure  of 
account  to  this  home  of  education  would  be  incomplete. 
Its  half-century  of  existence  is  the  span  of  most  that 
is  interesting  and  all  that  has  been  great  in  the  whole 
past  of  St.  Louis.  Starting  a  humble  school  for  Indians, 
near  what  was  little  more  than  a  frontier  trading-post, 
it  has  grown  step  by  step  with  its  home ;  and  as  truly  as 
that  is  to-day  designated  a  great  metropolis,  the  school, 
that  has  kept  even  pace  in  the  marvellous  march  of 
progress,  deserves  to  be  called  a  great  university.  There 
is  no  misnomer  in  that,  no  misuse  of  a  sounding  name; 
for  within  the  naturally  restricted  sphere  of  its  work  it 
has  abundantly  earned  the  title,  since  it  has  gathered  at 
different  times,  under  its  sheltering  wings,  colleges  of 
divinity,  of  classics,  of  law,  of  medicine,  of  commercial 
and  scientific  training.  These  are  muniments  of  its  title, 
while  it  has  further  deserved  the  name  in  the  fact  that 
it  has  been  the  parent  of  many  colleges  at  different 
points  in  the  West  and  South.  Tolerant,  while  sectarian, 
there  are  none  of  the  educational  establishments  founded 
here  in  later  years  that  have  left  a  deeper  impress  on 
our  people,  who,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
had  no  other  place  at  home  to  go  to  for  education  in  the 
higher  branches  of  learning  ;  so  that  its  influence  has 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  235 

gone  far  outside  sectarian  bounds,  and  its  alumni-roll  is 
filled  with  the  names  of  men  who  are  of  different  creeds 
from  the  faculty  who  taught  them.  No  more  beautiful 
lesson  of  true  religious  liberality,  of  genuine  toleration, 
untainted  by  the  odious  presence  of  bigotry,  could  be 
asked  than  this  gathering  of  alumni,  of  different  sects,  to 
do  honor  to  an  alma  mater  which  has  been  always  com- 
pletely sectarian,  yet  completely  and  impartially  Catho- 
lic, in  the  true,  full  sense  of  the  word.  Their  pleasantest 
task  will  be  to  recall  the  lessons  of  divine  sympathy  that 
shatter  the  walls  of  sects  and  dissipate  the  divisions 
which  their  college  experience  put  to  practical  test ;  and 
remembering  the  ceaseless  watchfulness,  the  loving  at- 
tention, that  took  no  color  from  religious  prejudice,  no 
change  or  differing  form  of  kindness  from  variance  of 
religious  views,  they  will  give  thankful  token  that  the 
lessons  stood  the  test. 

The  St.  Louis  University  has  made  a  lasting  mark  on 
the  intellectual  and  religious  life  of  this  city,  and  so  long 
as  St.  Louis  remains  in  history,  this  mother  of  learning 
will  take  important  part  in  the  pages  that  tell  its  tale. 
To-day  the  Republican  only  gives  voice  to  the  hearty 
and  general  congratulation  the  whole  city  gratefully 
extends  to  the  old  college.  While  the  halls  of  the  uni- 
versity throng  with  the  alumni,  who  have  been  recalled 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  to  testify  their  esteem  and 
love  for  the  foster-mother  of  their  youth,  the  record  they 
have  made  speaks  more  eloquently  than  words,  for  they 
have  won  enough  distinction  in  the  busy  whirl  of  the 
world  to  satisfy  their  alma  mater  that  her  children  are 
worthy  of  pride,  in  mind  and  in  morals.  From  Protest- 
ant as  well  as  from  Catholic  pulpits,  from  the  courts  of 
law  and  the  bedside  of  the  sick,  from  the  marts  of  trade 


236  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

and  the  halls  of  legislation,  these  children  of  the  past 
fifty  years  will  come  together,  to  signify  that  the  mother 
who  fitted  them  for  the  work  of  life  is  no  more  proud  of 
them  than  they  of  her.  The  vigorous  and  prosperous 
old  age  presages  the  sure  fulfilment  of  the  hearty  good 
wishes  for  the  future,  which  the  whole  city  joins  the  alumni 
in  extending  to  the  university.  Its  career  is  but  begun, 
and  the  future  will  round  its  cycle  of  a  hundred  years 
with  no  less  meritorious  accomplishments  in  the  last 
than  have  rendered  the  first  half  of  its  century  deservedly 
illustrious." 


[V.] 

COMMENCEMENT    EXERCISES    ON   JUNE  25, 

1879. 

PROGRAMME. 
PART    I. 

Entree ;  by  band. 

Prologue  (written  by  William  H.  Lepere) ;  by  J.  Regi- 
nald Frost. 

Music  (Selections  from  Pinafore);  Sullivan. 

Oration,  "  Science  and  Religion  ;  "  by  Thos.  A.  Rob- 
erson. 

Oration,  "Absolutism;"  by  Edward  H.  Jones. 

Music  (Cornet  Solo);   by  James  W.  Kingston. 

Oration,  "Daniel  Webster;"  by  Francis  A.  Hobein. 

Song,  "  The  Wanderer's  Joys  ;  "  by  select  choir. 

PART    II. 

Oration,  "  Secret  Societies"  (Valedictory) ;  by  James 
W.  Hingston. 

Music  (Railroad  Galopade) ;  by  C.  J.  Richter. 

Conferring  of  Degrees. 

Address  to  the  Graduates ;  by  Elisha  H.  Gregory,  M.D. 
Music,  "  En  Avant  Polka ; "  by  Lumbye. 

Award  of  Premiums. 

Song,  "  Good  Night;  "  by  select  choir. 
Finale ;  by  band. 

(237) 


238  ST.  LOUJS    UNIVERSITY. 

The  commencement  exercises  of  the  St.  Louis  Uni- 
versity, for  1879,  took  place  last  evening,  and  the  great 
throng  of  our  best  classes  of  citizens,  who  occupied  all 
the  available  space  in  the  commodious  exhibition-hall, 
gave  one  more  striking  proof  of  the  good-will  which 
our  people,  regardless  of  creed  or  nationality,  entertain 
for  that  admirable  institution.  The  hall  was  hand- 
somely decorated  and  brilliantly  lighted,  and  its  for- 
ward part  was  occupied  by  the  faculty  and  pupils  of  the 
university,  while  the  graduating  class  and  several  of  the 
clergy  occupied  seats  on  the  stage. 

At  precisely  eight  o'clock,  the  university  band  struck 
up  a  beautiful  overture,  which  did  not  want  for  appre- 
ciation. 

Mr.  J.  Reginald  Frost,  a  junior  student  of  very  fine 
promise,  then  stepped  forward  and  delivered  the  pro- 
logue, which  was  a  composition  of  Mr.  William  H.  Le- 
pere.  As  a  poem  it  did  great  credit  to  its  author,  and 
in  its  recital,  aided  by  very  expressive  and  graceful  ges- 
ticulation, the  young  man  well  earned  the  plaudits  with 
which  he  was  rewarded.  And  in  this  connection  it  may 
be  stated,  as  a  matter  of  justice,  that  the  rare  elocution- 
ary merit  which  was  conspicuous  in  every  effort  of  the 
evening  is  a  result  of  the  work  of  Rev.  Father  Calmer, 
whose  system  of  teaching  that  branch,  in  which  he  is 
wonderfully  proficient,  seems  to  be  almost  perfect. 

The  musical  interlude  consisted  of  Pinafore  medley, 
comprising  all  of  the  prettiest  airs  of  that  popular 
opera. 

Mr.  Thomas  A.  Roberson,  of  the  graduating  class, 
delivered  an  oration  on  the  subject  of  "  Science  and  Re- 
ligion," wherein  he  manifested  a  high  degree  of  literary 
taste,  an  elegant  use  of  language,  and  a  logical  capacity 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  239 

that  was  remarkable.  He  declared  that  the  natural 
sciences  are  progressive,  as  is  proven  by  geology, 
astronomy,  chemistry,  and  physics.  "This  progress," 
said  he,  "  we  cannot  and  do  not  deny  ;  and  we  gladly 
wreathe  around  the  age's  brow  the  laurel  crown  of 
well-deserved  praise  and  honor."  But,  while  admitting 
and  asserting  that  progress,  he  held  that  he  could  not  be 
reasonably  construed  as  gainsaying  a  well-established 
principle  of  faith.  Discussing  this  point,  he  said  :  "There 
may  sometimes  appear  to  exist  a  contradiction  between 
them,  but  this  is  only  apparent,  and  not  real ;  for,  on 
further  inquiry,  this  difference  will  disappear  and  vanish, 
like  the  baseless  fabric  of  the  imagination  and  the 
cheating  vision  of  a  dream.  Hypothesis  and  theory 
cannot  gainsay  a  well-established  principle  of  faith. 
The  further  development  of  scientific  discovery  will 
only  place  in  a  clearer  light  the  revealed  truth,  and 
add  new  lustre  and  the  splendor  of  the  noonday  sun- 
light to  the  doctrines  of  revelation.  Science  is  but  the 
handmaid  of  religion."  Pursuing  this  theme,  the  young 
orator  exhibited  not  only  a  remarkable  degree  of  clear- 
ness and  ingenuity  in  reconciling  science  and  religion, 
but  a  very  thorough  acquaintance  with  those  points 
whereon  the  anti-religionists  base  their  claim  that  the 
two  are  irreconcilable. 

The  oration  was  very  loudly  applauded,  and  a  floral 
testimonial  from  some  considerate  friend  made  his 
triumph  complete. 

Mr.  Edward  H.  Jones,  the  young  gentleman  whose 
native  brightness  and  perseverance  of  effort  won  for 
him  the  brightest  honors  and  the  gold  medal  of  the 
graduating  class,  was  the  next  to  entertain  the  au- 


24O  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

dience.  The  subject  of  his  oration  was  "Absolutism," 
and,  although  weighty  in  its  character,  the  young 
man  proved  his  ability  to  handle  it,  not  only  intel- 
ligently, but  in  a  manner  which  made  it  exception- 
ally interesting  to  his  hearers.  His  remarks  evidenced 
a  large  amount  of  historical  research,  and  to  the 
facts  thus  gleaned  he  applied  his  philosophy  to  prove 
the  inherent  and  necessary  evils  of  absolutism.  A 
couple  of  brief  extracts  will  serve  to  give  a  fair  idea  of 
the  character  of  his  effort :  "  For,"  said  he,  "  tracing 
back  the  thread  of  truth  through  the  labyrinth  of  ages, 
we  find  the  old  Roman  Caesars,  like  the  Tarquins, 
wielding  the  sceptre  of  their  regal  power  with  tyran- 
nous oppression ;  and  the  people,  rising  against  their 
unjust  and  usurped  authority,  appointing  in  their  stead 
dictators,  like  Cincinnatus,  to  take  the  helm  of  the  ship 
of  state  and  guide  her  safely  through  the  troubled 
waters  of  sedition  and  revolt."  Speaking  of  the  history 
of  absolutism  in  France,  he  said :  "  For  more  than 
three-quarters  of  a  century  the  storm-cloud  lowered 
over  that  devoted  land.  In  vain  the  forked  lightnings 
played,  and  the  distant  mutterings  of  the  thunder  fore- 
told the  coming  of  the  tempest,  until  at  length  it  burst 
in  all  its  rage  and  fury.  The  French  people,  long  held 
down  by  tyranny  and  oppression,  at  length  let  loose 
the  torrent  of  pent-up  passion,  and,  rising  in  one  gigan- 
tic rebellion,  swept  away  from  the  face  of  France 
almost  every  trace  of  royalty  and  aristocracy.  Thus 
the  French  Revolution,  with  all  its  accompanying  hor- 
rors, was  nothing  but  the  legitimate  outcome  of  abso- 
lutism in  its  strictest  form." 

The  gentlemanly,  modest  demeanor  of  the  speaker, 


x> 


\ 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  24! 

and  his  very  clear  and  impressive  delivery,  made  the 
most  of  his  effort,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  his  remarks 
the  demonstrations  of  approval  were  loud  and  long. 

The  next  event  was  musical  in  character,  Mr.  James 
W.  Kingston  treating  the  assemblage  to  a  masterly 
cornet  solo. 

Mr.  Francis  A.  Hobein  chose  for  the  subject  of  his 
oration  a  great  one,  —  Daniel  Webster.  Mr.  Hobein  is 
a  young  man  of  good  presence,  a  commendable  degree 
of  self-confidence,  a  rare  ease  of  gesture,  and  a  good, 
.  clear  enunciation,  all  of  which  serve  to  make  him  the 
best  orator  of  his  class.  His  effort  was  a  eulogy,  rather 
than  a  criticism,  and  was  highly  meritorious.  Gold- 
smith, he  said,  had  asserted  that  it  is  from  its  excellence 
in  polite  learning  that  a  nation  must  expect  a  character 
from  posterity.  "  America,  though  the  child  of  earth's 
old  age,  has  already  nursed  and  reared  to  glorious  man- 
hood upon  her  virgin  soil  a  genius  whose  science,  hu- 
manity, and  generosity  are  almost  without  a  parallel; 
whose  eloquence  was  like  an  overflowing  fountain  of 
lofty  and  noble  sentiments,  —  integrity,  truth,  and  public 
-spirit;  of  whom  we  may  proudly  say,  'the  world  has 
become  the  temple  of  his  fame,  the  sun  the  coronet  of 
his  glory,'  —  Daniel  Webster,  the  Demosthenes  of  the 
new  world."  Speaking  of  Webster's  speeches  and 
writings,  he  said  that,  "all  in  all,  he  must  be  considered 
a  striking  instance  of  the  power  and  talent  of  our  nation. 
His  memory  will  live  in  spite  of  party  bias  and  sectional 
prejudice,  unfading  and  undying;  for  around  it  are 
clustered  the  brightest  principles  and  virtues  of  a  spot- 
less public  life,  which  have  led  him  to  glory,  fame,  and 
immortality." 

The  interlude  which  followed   Mr.  Hobein's  speech 

16 


242  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

consisted  of  a  beautiful  trio,  "The  Wanderer's  Joys,"" 
sung  by  three  little  boys,  named  Julius  Kohl,  Alex. 
Deprez,  and  Robert  Henneman.  The  music  was  very 
sweet,  and  the  boys  made  a  "big  hit."  The  audience 
would  not  be  quiet  until  they  had  given  an  encore. 

Part  second  opened  with  an  oration  and  valedictory 
by  Mr.  James  W.  Hingston.  The  subject  of  the  oration 
was  "Secret  Societies."  Mr.  Hingston  is  a  young  man 
of  excellent  intellectual  attainments,  and,  although 
never  born  for  an  orator,  he  spoke  plainly,  slowly,  and 
effectively,  bringing  out  clearly  all  the  points  of  an 
admirably  written  effort.  His  discussion  of  secret  so- 
cieties was  mainly  directed  to  showing  the  baneful 
effects  which  they  produce.  He  argued  that,  for  a  man 
to  blindly  take  a  comprehensive  oath  of  fealty  to  any 
society  was  to  place  his  will  and  conscience  in  a  state 
of  subjection  which  could  not  but  be  disastrous.  For 
the  oath  of  a  Mason,  for  instance,  is  so  binding  upon 
him  that,  were  his  duties  as  a  citizen  on  the  one  side 
and  the  dictates  of  his  society  on  the  other,  he  must 
stifle  his  conscience,  and  remain  true  to  the  oath  of 
obedience  which  he  took  when  he  joined  the  organi- 
zation. After  discussing  this  subject  at  considerable 
length,  the  young  man  delivered  the  valedictory,  refer- 
ring feelingly  to  the  many  years  he  had  spent  at  the  old 
university,  and  declaring  that  its  associations  would  be 
hallowed  in  his  memory  while  life  remained.  His  ad- 
dress to  the  faculty  was  very  touching,  and  full  of  grati- 
tude for  the  care  they  had  bestowed  on  him  and  his 
comrades,  and  the  patience  with  which  they  had  cor- 
rected all  errors  or  wrong-doings. 

After  a  very  enlivening  descriptive   piece   of  music, 
entitled  the  "Railroad  Gallopade,"  Rev.  Father  Keller 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  243 

announced  that  the  conferring  of  degrees  was  next  in 
order.  He  proceeded,  according  to  time-honored  cus- 
tom, to  read  in  Latin  the  text  of  the  diplomas  which 
were  about  to  be  awarded,  and  then  read  the  list  of  the 
gentlemen  who  were  to  receive  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
It  was  as  follows  :  — 

THE    LL.D/S. 

Jeremiah  S.  B.  Alleyne,  M.D. ;  Hon.  Robert  A.  Bake- 
well,  Hon.  J.  Richard  Barrett,  Jerome  K.  Bauduy,  M.D.; 
Louis   C.   Boisliniere,    M.D. ;  Hon.    Henry  A.    Clover 
Emile    Doumeing,    M.D.;    Edward    T.    Parish,   Esq. 
Hon.  Augustus  H.  Garland,  Elisha  H.  Gregory,  M.D. 
Hon.  James  Halligan,  Hon.  Henry  B.  Kelly;  Timolh) 
L.  Papin,  M.D. ;   Hon.  Thomas  C.  Reynolds,  Ellsworth 
F.  Smith,  M.D. 

Accordingly  as  the  names  were  called,  the  gentlemen 
arose  among  the  audience  and  walked  upon  the  platform. 
Gray  heads  predominated  largely  in  the  coterie,  and  the 
university  might  well  be  proud  of  such  a  group  of 
children. 

The  gentlemen  need  no  recommendation  to  St.  Louis- 
ians,  for  most  of  them  have  already  made  their  enduring 
mark  in  our  local  history.  The  reverend  father  pre- 
sented to  each  his  diploma ;  and  as  the  gentlemen  left 
the  platform,  proud  in  their  new  possession,  the  applause 
was  thundering. 

Father  Keller  then  proceeded  with  the  awards,  the 
classes  in  each  case  proceeding  to  the  platform  and 
forming  in  line.  They  were  as  follows :  — 

THE    DEGREE    OF    A.  M. 

Walter  J.  Blakely,  Matthew  F.  Burke,  Esq. ;    James 


244  ST-  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

A.  Cain,  A.B. ;  Bartholomew  M.  Chambers,  A.B. ;  Ashley 
C.  Clover,  Esq. ;  Wolsey  W.  Collins,  Esq. ;  Thomas  H. 
Coppinger,  Esq. ;  William  A.  Hardavvay,  M.D. ;  Michael 
F.  Healey,  Esq. ;  Ralph  W.  Humes,  A.B. ;  William 
T.  Humes,  A.B.;  Louis  H.  Jones,  A.B. ;  George  H. 
Loker,  Jr.,  A.B. ;  John  J.  McCann,  Esq. ;  Rev.  Michael 
J.  McLoughlin  ;  P.William  Provenchere,  Esq.;  Ama- 
dee  V.  Reyburn,  A.B. ;  Eugene  C.  Slevin,  Esq. ;  Louis 
S.  Tesson,  M.D. ;  Valle  F.  Reyburn,  Esq. ;  Lucien 
Carr,  A.B. ;  Rodney  W.  Anderson,  M.D. 

THE    DEGREE    OF    A.  B. 

Wilber  N.  Beal,  Louis  C.  Boisliniere,  Jr. ;  Lashley  M. 
Gray,  Harry  L.  Haydel,  James  W.  Kingston,  Francis 
A.  Hobein,  Edward  H.  Jones,  William  H.  Lepere,  Rob- 
ert T.  Venneman. 

THE    DEGREE    OF    B.  S. 

Joseph  A.  Clarkson,  John  W.  Hughes,  and  Thomas 
A.  Roberson. 

Diplomas  were  conferred  on  the  following  graduates 
in  the  commercial  course  :  John  P.  Bonnet,  Augustus  D. 
Caldwell,  Benjamin  L.  Emmons,  John  T.  Gorman,  Thos. 
H.  Larkin,  Louis  F.  Lumaghi,  John  F.  McDermott, 
James  M.  Murphy,  William  H.  Ohlman,  Peter  J.  Parle, 
Alexander  D.  Powers,  Ambrose  R.  Quinn,  John  E. 
Shields,  Edward  G.  Trueheart,  John  N.  Verdin,  J.  Henry 
Wilks. 

The  highest  honors  and  gold  medal  of  the  graduating 
class  were  conferred  upon  E.  H.  Jones. 

The  highest  honors  and  gold  medal  of  the  scientific 
course  were  won  by  Thomas  A.  Roberson. 

The  gold  medal  for  the  best  essay  on  "  Evidences  of 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE. 

Christianity,"  was  won  by  Alonzo  C.  Church  ;  next  in 
merit,  Ed\vard  G.  Trueheart.  Subject :  "  Christ  is  Truly 
God."  Donor,  Right  Rev.  P.  J.  Ryan,  D.D.,  Bishop 
Coadjutor  of  St.  Louis. 

The  gold  medal  for  the  best  English  essay  in  the 
Philalethic  Society  was  won  by  William  H.  Lepere; 
next  in  merit,  Francis  A.  Hobein.  Subject :  "  Criticism 
of  the  Oratory  of  Daniel  Webster."  Donor,  Gen.  D.  M. 
Frost. 

The  gold  medal  and  the  highest  honors  were  awarded 
to  Edward  G.  Trueheart,  among  the  graduates  of  the 
commercial  course. 

When  the  candidates  were  all  ranged  upon  the  plat- 
form, Dr.  E.  H.  Gregory  stepped  forward  and  delivered 
the  following  — 

ADDRESS    TO    THE    GRADUATES. 

GRADUATES  :  —  This  day  will  ever  be  of  precious 
memory.  You  have  won  golden  opinions.  Your  golden 
opportunity  embraces  the  golden  jubilee  of  your  a!ma 
mater.  It  now  remains  for  you  to  make  your  "  golden 
mark." 

From  to-day  you  begin  a  new  life.  Hitherto  all 
has  been  preparation,  hope,  and  promise.  Now  come 
the  solid  realities  of  practical  life ;  now  come  work  and 
duty,  painful  responsibilities,  and  ravelling  care.  Armed, 
as  you  are,  with  intelligence  and  will,  every  obstacle 
will  be  overcome.  We  learn  in  order  to  act.  The  end 
of  all  knowledge  being  action,  the  end  of  all  action  is 
to  promote  the  welfare  and  the  progress  of  mankind 
upon  the  earth.  Thirty-five  years  ago  I  began  the  race 
of  life  at  the  point  from  which  some  start  to-night. 
Could  I  recall  vividly  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  my 


246  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

mind  then,  and  contrast  them  with  my  thoughts  and 
feelings  now,  I  might  extract  from  the  comparison  the 
essence  of  my  practical  life,  and  impart  it  to  you.  But 
this  would  be  a  difficult  task,  probably  impossible,  and 
of  doubtful  advantage.  Nations  nor  individuals  do  not 
profit  much  by  the  experience  of  other  nations  or 
of  other  individuals;  they  must  acquire  a  like  experi- 
ence for  themselves,  too  often  learning  through  suffer- 
ing, succeeding  through  blundering,  and  attaining  the 
calmness  of  wisdom  through  the  fevers  of  passion  ;  and 
at  last,  when  opportunities  are  gone,  and  their  conse- 
quences in  irrevocable  operation,  it  is  seen,  perhaps, 
how  much  better  use  we  might  have  made  of  them. 
Perhaps  there  is  a  wise  purpose  in  this  inability  of  the 
young  to  take  home  and  assimilate  the  experience  of 
their  elders ;  it  might  dishearten  hope,  dampen  enthu- 
siasm, and  despoil  energy.  I  would  rather  foster  that 
enthusiasm  and  freshness  of  spirit  which  makes  life  itself 
a  joy;  would  promote  that  full  stream  of  young  energy 
in  its  eager  pursuit  of  life's  highest  aims,  hoping  that 
its  illusions  may  not  be  destroyed  by  experience,  and 
that  the  heart,  as  it  is  more  and  more  applied  to  know 
wisdom,  may  not  realize  that  all  is  "  vanity  and  vexa- 
tion of  spirit." 

Gentlemen,  your  next  step  in  life  is  to  choose  your 
profession;  having  chosen  it,  to  justify  your  choice  by 
your  work.  Work  as  if  nature  had  denied  you  every 
thing  but  the  faculty  of  working,  with  the  promise  that 
not  a  drop  of  the  sweat  of  the  brow  shall  be  wasted,  any 
more  than  a  drop  of  His  heavenly  dew.  If  nobody 
reads  us  in  a  hundred  years  from  now,  what  does  it  sig- 
nify ?  The  drop  of  water  that  falls  into  the  sea  has 
gone  to  swell  the  flood,  and  the  flood  never  dies.  He 


GOLDEN    JUBILEE.  247 

who  has  been  of  his  time,  says  Schiller,  "  has  been  of 
all  time.  He  has  done  his  work ;  he  has  his  share  in 
the  creation  of  things  which  are  eternal."  How  much 
that  is  now  forgotten  has  contributed  to  bring  about 
the  signs  of  progress  we  are  witnessing?  Again:  work 
so  that  it  may  be  said  of  each  of  you,  when  his  long 
day's  task  is  over  and  the  night  has  come,  that  he  was 
in  his  "right  place." 

Lastly,  gentlemen,  let  me  remind  you  that  life  has 
its  three  stages,  —  youth,  manhood,  and  old  age.  Let 
it  be  your  anxious  care  now,  in  the  first  stage  of  joy  and 
hope,  so  to  pass  to  the  second  stage  of  work  and  duty 
that  the  last  stage  may  not  be  a  long  regret. 

After  more  music,  there  was  an  award  of  premiums 
to  the  senior  and  junior  students.  The  select  choir 
sang  another  beautiful  song,  entitled,  "  Good-Night," 
and  the  band  closed  the  entertainment.  It  was  a  grand 
success. 


[VI.] 

To  give  some  idea  of  the  practical  \vorking  of  the 
university  and  of  the  studies  pursued,  we  append,  in 
conclusion,  the  list  of  officers  and  professors  for  the 
scholastic  year  ending  June  25,  1879,  anc^  the  courses 
of  instruction  pursued,  as  given  in  the  annual  catalogue. 


BOARD   OF  TRUSTEES. 


REV.  J.  E.  KELLER,  S,  J., 

PRESIDENT. 

REV.  P.  J.  LEYSEN,  S.  J., 

CHANCELLOR. 

REV.  W.  II.  HILL,  S.  J., 

SECRETARY. 

REV.  L.  BUSHART,  S.  J., 

TREASURER. 

REV.  P.  j.  WARD,   S.  J. 
(248) 


FACULTY.  249 

FACULTY. 


REV.    J.  E.  KELLER,  S.  J., 

PRESIDENT. 

REV.   H.  L.  MAGEVNEV,  S.  J., 

VICE-PRESIDENT    AND    PREFECT    OF   STUDIES. 

REV.   P.  J.  LEYSEN,   S.  J., 

VICE-PRESIDENT    AND    PREFECT    OF    DISCIPLINE. 

REV.  F.  L.  WEINMAN,  S.  J., 

CHAPLAIN. 

REV.  C.  COPPENS,  S.  J., 

LIBRARIAN. 

REV.  W.  H.  HILL,  S.  J., 

PROFESSOR    OF    MENTAL   AND    MORAL   PHILOSOPHY. 

REV.  J.  F.  RIGGE,  S.J., 

PROFESSOR    OF    MATHEMATICS,    PHYSICS,    AND    ASTRONOMY. 

REV.  F.  J.  BOUDREAUX,   S.  J., 

PROFESSOR    OF   CHEMISTRY. 

MR.   M.  P.  BOWLING,   S.  J,, 

PROFESSOR    OF    RHETORIC. 

MR.  GEORGE  A.  HOEFFER,  S.  J., 

PROFESSOR    OF     POETRY. 

MR.  J.  F.  PAHLS,   S.  J., 

FIRST    CLASS    OF    HUMANITIES. 


25O  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

MR.  J.  G.  DELIHANT,   S.  J., 

SECOND  CLASS  OF  HUMANITIES. 

MR.  R.  ROSSWINKEL,  S.  J., 

THIRD    CLASS    OF    HUMANITIES  —  DIVISION   A. 

REV.  C.  LAGAE,   S.  J., 

THIRD    CLASS    OF    HUMANITIES  —  DIVISION    B. 

MR.  J.  E.  HANHAUSER,  S.  J., 

CLASS   OF     RUDIMENTS. 

MR.  A.  J.  BURROWES,   S.  J., 

FIRST    RHETORIC    CLASS    OF    COMMERCIAL   COURSE. 

REV.  C.  COPPENS,   S.  J., 

PROFESSOR    OF    LOGIC. 

REV.  H.  A.  SCHAPMAN,   S.  J., 

SECOND    RHETORIC    CLASS. 

MR.  S.  A.  BLACKMORE,  S.J., 

FIRST   GRAMMAR    CLASS. 

MR.  J.  GONSER,   S.  J., 

SECOND     GRAMMAR    CLASS. 

MR.  J.  P.  WAGNER,  S.  J., 

PREPARATORY    CLASS. 

REV.  J.  G.  H.  KERNION,  S.  J. 

PROFESSOR    OF    FRENCH. 

MR.  J.  GONSER,  S.  J., 

PROFESSOR  OF  GERMAN. 


COURSES    OF    INSTRUCTION.  2$l 


5.  JM  \ 

,  S.J.,    J 


MR.  J.  E.  HAXHAUSKR,   S.  J.,    )  OF  GERMAN. 

MR.   M.   COURTNEY,   A.  B., 

TEACHER    OF    BOOK-KEEPING   AND    PENMANSHIP. 

MR.  G.  A.  HOEFFER,  S.  J.,  j 

MR.  A.  J.  TJURROWES,  S.  J.,  I  ASSISTANT  PREFECTS 
MR    J.  P.  WAGNER,  S.  J.,  OF  DISCIPLINE. 

MR.  R.   ROSSWINKEL,  S.  J.,  j 

MR.  C.  J.  RICHTER,  ] 

MR.  F.  ANGERSTEIN,  |-  TEACHERS  OF  MUSIC. 

MR.  P.  M.   ENZINGER, 

T.  L.   PAPIN,  M.D.,  LL.D., 

ATTENDING    PHYSICIAN. 


COURSES   OF    INSTRUCTION. 


There  are  two  distinct  courses  of  study,  the  CLASSI- 
CAL and  the  COMMERCIAL. 

CLASSICAL  COURSE 

This  course  is  designed  to  impart  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  English,  Greek,  and  Latin  languages ;  of 
mental  and  moral  philosophy;  of  pure  and  mixed 
Mathematics,  and  of  the  physical  sciences.  It  is  com- 
pleted in  six  years,  and  is  intended  to  prepare  the  stu- 
dent for  any  career  which  he  may  desire  to  pursue, 
whether  professional  or  commercial,  etc.  The  students 


252  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

in  this  course  are  divided,  according  to  their  proficiency, 
into  six  classes,  which  correspond  to  the  six  years  of 
the  course. 

When  a  student  is  admitted  into  the  college,  he  is 
examined  by  the  prefect  of  studies,  and  placed  in  the 
class  which  his  previous  attainments  have  qualified  him 
to  enter.  The  course  is  thus  shortened  by  one  year  or 
more  for  such  as  have  made  some  progress  in  classical 
studies.  For  those  who  are  advanced  in  other  branches, 
without  any  proficiency  in  the  ancient  languages,  pro- 
vision is  made  to  fit  them,  by  supplementary  instruc- 
tion in  Latin  and  Greek,  for  the  class  to  which  they 
are  equal  in  other  respects. 

FIRST  YEAR. 
THIRD    HUMANITIES. 

This  class  is  meant  to  impart  chiefly  an  elementary 
knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek.  Besides  furthering  the 
pupil  in  arithmetic,  English,  American  history,  and 
geography,  it  introduces  him  to  the  classical  course, 
and  begins  to  fit  him  for  professional  life.  While  the 
commercial  branches  are  carefully  attended  to,  the 
talent  for  classic  culture  is  closely  observed,  and  the 
pupil  directed  accordingly. 

AUTHORS    AND     CLASS-WORK. 

Latin.  —  Brooks's  Epitome  Historian  Sacrae  ;  Written 
and  Oral  Exercises. 

English.  —  Murray's  Grammar  and  Exercises;  Gil- 
mour's  Bible  History ;  Comprehensive  Geography,  No. 
2 ;  Elocution. 

Arithmetic.  —  Ray's  Practical. 
Writing.  —  Lessons  in  Penmanship. 


COURSES    OF    INSTRUCTION.  253 

Christian  Doctrine.  —  Study  of  Catechism,  with  ex- 
planation. 

Greek.  —  Brooks's  First  Lessons. 

SECOND   YEAR. 
SECOND    HUMANITIES. 

The  object  of  this  class  is  to  develop  more  perfectly 
the  knowledge  of  Greek  and  Latin  in  the  idiom.  The 
commercial  branches — English  grammar  and  compo- 
sition, history,  geography,  and  arithmetic  —  are  con- 
tinued, and  much  attention  is  paid  to  them,  though  the 
class  is  appreciated  chiefly  in  proportion  as  it  may 
promise  graduation  in  the  classical  course. 

AUTHORS    AND    CLASS-WORK. 

Greek.  —  Brooks's  First  Lessons  ;  Exercises ;  Graeca 
Minora. 

Latin. — Yenni's  Grammar;  Exercises;  ViriRomae; 
Xepos ;  Caesar. 

English. —  Murray's  Grammar  (continued) ;  Exercises ; 
Composition ;  Fredet's  Modern  History ;  Comprehen- 
sive Geography,  No.  3 ;  Elocution. 

Arithmetic.  —  Ray's  (continued). 

Writing.  —  Lessons  in  Penmanship. 

Christian  Doctrine.  —  Study  of  Catechism,  with  ex- 
planation. 

THIRD   YEAR. 

FIRST    HUMANITIES. 

This  class  cultivates  talent  for  style  in  epistolary, 
narrative,  and  descriptive  composition.  While  the 
classics  are  well  cared  for,  and  history  and  geography, 
arithmetic  and  algebra,  are  of  daily  recitation,  book- 


254  ST-  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

keeping  and  other  branches  suited  to  commercial  life 
are  not  forgotten,  even  though  the  student  is  supposed 
to  aim  chiefly  at  success  in  a  profession. 

AUTHORS    AND    CLASS-WORK. 

Greek.  —  Yenni's  Grammar;  Arnold's  Greek  Exer- 
cises; Xenophon;  St.  Chrysostom. 

Latin.  —  Yenni's  Grammar  (continued) ;  Arnold's 
Latin  Exercises ;  Ovid ;  Cicero  de  Senectute  et  Ami- 
citia ;  Virgil. 

English.  —  Comparative  Grammar  of  the  English,. 
Greek,  and  Latin  Languages ;  Composition  ;  Fredet's 
Modern  History  (continued) ;  Comprehensive  Geogra- 
phy, No.  3  (continued) ;  E  ocution. 

Mathematics.  —  Towne's  Algebra. 

Book-keeping.  —  Crittenden's. 

Christian  Doctrine.  —  Perry's  Instructions. 

FOURTH  YEAR. 
POETRY. 

In  this  class  the  student  begins  to  study  the  nature  of 
poetry,  and  to  familiarize  himself  with  the  various  kinds 
of  poetical  composition.  Original  poems  and  essays 
form  a  daily  exercise  in  class-work,  and  the  Greek  and 
Latin  authors  are  given  as  models  for  imitation. 

AUTHORS    AND    CLASS-WORK. 

Greek.  —  Prosody;  Dialects;  Arnold's  Exercises  (con- 
tinued);  Homer;  St.  Chrysostom. 

Latin.  —  Prosody  ;  Arnold's  Exercises  (continued)  ; 
Livy  ;  Virgil ;  Horace. 

English.  —  Prosody ;   Hart's  Composition  and  Rheto- 


COURSES    OF    INSTRUCTION.  255 

ric  ;  Essays  and  Debates  ;  Fredet's  Ancient  History ; 
Mythology  ;  Elocution. 

Mathematics.  —  Davies's  Geometry. 

Physics.  —  Olmsted's  Philosophy;  Johnson's  Chem- 
istry. Lectures  by  the  professor. 

Christian  Doctrine.  —  Perry's  Instructions. 

FIFTH  YEAR. 
RHETORIC. 

This  class  is  intended  to  impart  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  rhetoric,  by  means  of  a  close  criticism  of  literature 
and  the  precepts  of  oratory.  Historical  composition  is 
also  carefully  studied,  and  classic  poetry  is  made  to 
serve  as  a  help  to  success  in  public  speaking. 

AUTHORS    AND    CLASS-WORK. 

Greek.  —  Demosthenes;  Plato;  Euripides  or  Sopho- 
cles ;  Composition. 

Latin.  —  Horace  ;   Cicero  ;  Tacitus  ;  Composition. 

English.  —  Blair's  Rhetoric  ;  Quintilian  ;  Debates  • 
Oratorical  Composition ;  Elocution. 

Mathematics.  —  Davies's  Plane  and  Spherical  Trigo- 
nometry ;  Surveying. 

Physics.  —  Olmsted's  Philosophy  (continued) ;  John- 
son's Chemistry  (continued).  Lectures  by  the  professor. 

Evidences  of  Christianity.  —  Lectures.  For  reference  : 
Jouin's  Evidences  of  Religion. 

SIXTH  YEAR. 
PHILOSOPHY. 

The  object  of  this-  class  is  to  perfect  the  mind  by 
forming  the  habit  of  close  and  correct  thought.  Right 


256  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

principles  of  mental  and  moral  science  are  carefully  in- 
stilled, and  from  them  the  student  is  made  to  deduce 
logical  conclusions. 

AUTHORS    AND    CLASS-WORK. 

Logic,  Metaphysics,  and  Ethics.  —  The  Philosophy  of 
St.  Thomas;  Lectures  by  the  professor;  Dissertations 
and  Discussions  by  the  students.  For  collateral  use : 
Liberatore,  Sanseverino,  Dmowski,  Hill's  Logic  and 
General  Metaphysics  ;  Hill's  Ethics. 

Mathematics.  —  Church's  Analytical  Geometry;  Peck's 
Differential  and  Integral  Calculus. 

Astronomy  and  Mechanics.  —  Snell's  Olmsted.  Lect- 
ures by  the  professor. 

Evidences  of  Christianity.  —  Lectures.  For  reference  : 
Jouin's  Evidences  of  Religion. 


COMMERCIAL  COURSE. 

This  course  embraces  all  the  branches  of  a  good 
English  education.  It  is  completed  in  four  years,  and 
prepares  students  for  business,  commercial  pursuits,  etc. 

FIRST  YEAR. 
SECOND    GRAMMAR    CLASS. 

In  this  class  the  student  is  made  familiar  with  the 
principles  of  arithmetic  and  grammar,  and  with  the 
main  facts  of  United  States  history.  English  composi- 
tion is  a  daily  exercise,  wherein  special  attention  is  paid 
to  the  arrangement  of  words  and  the  amplification  of 
sentences. 


COURSES    OF    INSTRUCTION. 
AUTHORS    AND    CLASS-WORK. 

English.  —  Murray's  Grammar  and  Exercises;  Good- 
rich's  History  of  the  United  States;  Comprehensive 
Geography,  No.  2;  Elocution. 

Arithmetic.  —  Ray's  Practical. 

Writing.  —  Lessons  in  Penmanship. 

Christian  Doctrine.  —  Study  of  Catechism,  with  ex- 
planation. 

SECOND   YEAR. 

FIRST    GRAMMAR    CLASS. 

This  class  completes  the  study  of  arithmetic  and 
grammar,  giving  much  time  to  the  analysis  of  sentences 
and  to  the  rules  of  punctuation.  The  epistolary  and 
narrative  styles  of  composition  are  made  a  specialty, 
and  history  and  geography  are  studied  more  thor- 
oughly. 

AUTHORS    AND    CLASS-WORK. 

English. —  Murray's  Grammar  (continued);  Exercises; 
Epistolary  Composition ;  Formby's  Bible  History ;  Com- 
prehensive Geography,  No.  3  ;  Elocution. 

Arithmetic.  —  Ray's  (continued). 

Writing.  —  Lessons  in  Penmanship. 

Christian  Doctrine.  —  Study  of  Catechism,  with  ex- 
planation. 

THIRD   YEAR. 

SECOND    RHETORIC    CLASS. 

This  class  has  for  its  subject-matter  the  principles  of 
rhetoric,  and  aims  at  facility  in  the  minor  species  of 
composition,  more  especially  such  as  relate  to  commer- 
cial life.  Besides  algebra,  history,  and  geography, 
book-keeping  is  taught  daily,  while  at  the  same  time 

17 


258  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

the  students  are  made  to  memorize  from  the  masters  of 
English  literature. 

AUTHORS    AND    CLASS-WORK. 

English.  —  Hart's  Composition  and  Rhetoric ;  Essays ; 
Debates;  Fredet's  Modern  History;  Comprehensive 
Geography,  No.  3  (continued);  Elocution. 

Book-keeping.  —  Crittenden's. 

Arithmetic.  —  Ray's  (continued). 

Mathematics.  —  Towne's  Algebra. 

Christian  Doctrine.  —  Perry's  Instructions. 

FOURTH  YEAR. 
FIRST    RHETORIC    CLASS. 

This  class  is  meant  to  perfect  the  commercial  student 
in  rhetoric  and  the  higher  styles  of  composition,  as  well 
as  to  further  him  in  mathematics,  and  give  him  some 
knowledge  of  logic  and  the  natural  sciences. 

AUTHORS    AND    CLASS-WORK. 

English.  —  Rhetoric  (Mill's  Blair);  Composition; 
Debates  ;  Hill's  Logic  and  General  Metaphysics ;  Fre- 
det's Ancient  History ;  Mythology;  Elocution. 

Mathematics. —  Davies's  Geometry;  Plane  and  Spheri- 
cal Trigonometry ;  Surveying. 

Physics.  —  Olmsted's  Philosophy  and  Johnson's  Chem- 
istry. 

Evidences  of  Christianity.  —  Lectures.  For  reference : 
Jouin's  Evidences  of  Religion. 

FRENCH    AND    GERMAN. 

The  study  of  French  and  German  is  optional  in  either 
course. 


COURSES    OF    INSTRUCTION.  259 

COURSE  OF  SCIENCE. 

Students  of  the  commercial  course,  who  desire  to  pur- 
sue the  study  of  the  sciences  beyond  the  limits  assigned 
in  the  foregoing  scheme  for  said  course,  are  invited  to 
devote  one  year  after  their  graduation  to  this  object. 
During  this  additional  year,  they  apply  themselves  to 
the  study  of  metaphysics,  mathematics,  and  astronomy, 
together  with  the  members  of  the  class  of  philosophy 
in  the  classical  course.  They  continue  and  complete 
the  study  of  physics  and  chemistry,  and  are  further  ex- 
ercised in  literary  and  scientific  composition. 

At  the  termination  of  this  year  they  receive  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science,  provided  they  give  evi- 
dence of  meriting  it  by  general  excellence  of  conduct, 
and  by  a  successful  examination  in  mental  and  physical 
sciences. 


PREPARATORY. 

Pupils  who  are  not  sufficiently  advanced  to  enter  the 
classical  or  the  commercial  course  are  received  into 
the  Preparatory  Department,  provided  they  know  how 
to  read,  and  are  not  under  ten  years  of  age. 

PREPARATORY    CLASS. 

English.  —  Sargent's  Standard  Third  Reader ;  Web- 
ster's Elementary  Spelling-Book  ;  Schuster's  Abridged 
History  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments;  Comprehen- 
sive Geography,  No.  2. 

Arithmetic.  —  Ray's  Primary. 

Writing.  —  Lessons  in  Penmanship. 


26O  ST.  LOUIS    UNIVERSITY. 

Christian  Doctrine.  —  Study  of  Catechism,  with  ex- 
planation. 

CLASS    OF    RUDIMENTS. 

English.  —  Murray's  Grammar  and  Exercises  ;  Web- 
ster's Elementary  Spelling-Book  ;  Sargent's  Standard 
Fourth  Reader ;  Goodrich's  History  of  the  United 
States;  Comprehensive  Geography,  No.  2  (continued); 
Elocution. 

Arithmetic.  —  Ray's  Practical. 

Writing.  — Lessons  in  Penmanship. 

Christian  Doctrine.  —  Study  of  Catechism,  with  ex- 
planation. 

SECOND  TERM.  — Latin.  —  Brooks's  Epitome  Historian 
Sacrae. 


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